Vulnerability, Partnerships and the Pursuit of Survival: Urban Livelihoods and Apprenticeship Contracts in a West African City

Hanson, Kobena T.

doi:10.1007/s10708-005-7915-1

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Training for hairdressing and dressmaking has predominantly been undertaken through the apprenticeship system. Following a written or verbal agreement, apprentices are trained by a ‘madam’ for a period of 2–3 years; in exchange the madam receives a sum of money (and in some cases also gifts) on top of the free labour provided by the apprentices (Hanson 2005). Most apprentices then have to pass an exam before they can become paid skilled workers or establish their own business.…”

Section: Young Female Employment Avenues In Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverging pathways: young female employment and entrepreneurship in sub‐Saharan Africa

Langevang¹,

Gough²

2012

Geographical Journal

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Shrinking public sectors and limited opportunities for gaining formal wage employment in the private sector have resulted in entrepreneurship being promoted as a means of generating youth employment. This discourse is being widely promoted within sub-Saharan Africa despite little being known about how best to support youth employment and entrepreneurship. This paper focuses on two of the main trades which young women in sub-Saharan Africa have typically entered: hairdressing and dressmaking. Through drawing on a qualitative case study of hairdressers and seamstresses in Ghana, it is shown how the two professions have fared quite differently in recent years: whereas hairdressing has boomed, dressmaking has been stagnating. The paper shows how these diverging trajectories can be attributed to three related factors. First, globalisation has affected the two trades differently; second, their respective trade associations have reacted differently to the new constraints and opportunities generated by globalisation and their training systems have undergone different degrees of professionalisation; and third, the prestige associated with the two professions has changed affecting the aspirations of young women to enter the professions and the experiences of those that do. As the paper shows, geographers potentially have much to contribute to employment and entrepreneurship debates by providing more contextualised studies which recognise the complex interplay between globalisation, institutions and individuals in particular places and acknowledge the ensuing diverse employment experiences. Such studies are highly relevant for policymakers who are facing the difficult challenge of how to create employment and stimulate entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Section: Young Female Employment Avenues In Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverging pathways: young female employment and entrepreneurship in sub‐Saharan Africa

Langevang¹,

Gough²

2012

Geographical Journal

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“…Children often help before or after school, or join the business after basic education, but there is no tendency for them to be exploited as child labour (Tipple, 2006). Some operators have one or more employees while others take on apprentices who do not receive a wage but work for the operator in exchange for learning a trade (Hanson, 2005). For many of the operators, their home-based enterprise is their primary, and sometimes only, source of income, hence the enterprises make a major contribution to household incomes and poverty reduction.…”

Section: Home-based Enterprises In the Global Southmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuity and adaptability of home-based enterprises: A longitudinal study from Accra, Ghana

Gough

2010

International Development Planning Review

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It has long been recognised that many low-income households in cities in the global South use their home not only as a means of shelter but also as a source of income. There is a tendency, however, to consider home-based enterprises as providing insignificant and temporary forms of work. Evidence collected over a period of 10 years from home-based enterprise operators in Accra shows that, although the fortunes of the enterprises vary, the majority display a remarkable ability to survive. The operators demonstrate a high degree of flexibility in adapting to changing demand and opportunities, and a few manage to consolidate and expand their businesses. In the current economic climate, in which young people especially are having difficulty finding gainful employment, some young people are taking over homebased enterprises from their ageing parents. There is clear evidence that home-based enterprises make an important contribution to urban livelihoods and should be supported, not hindered, by urban planners.Home-based enterprises were generally overlooked in the literature until about 20 years ago. Thus in the late 1980s Strassmann (1987) could argue that most writers on the informal sector have ignored location, and Gilbert (1988, 21) could claim that despite there being an extensive literature on both low-income settlements and the informal sector, 'there is as yet no satisfactory consideration of the role of home enterprise'. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. The last decade has witnessed a plethora of studies on home-based enterprises. These enterprises are typically small-scale retail and service enterprises run by women from the home (Gough et al., 2003). Despite the increased awareness of home-based enterprises, little is known about their robustness and they still tend to be considered by planners as rather insignificant and temporary in nature (Tipple, 2005).This paper aims to contribute to filling the gap in the literature by exploring how home-based enterprise operators fare over time. It builds upon longitudinal data on home-based enterprises collected over a decade in Madina, a suburb of Accra, Ghana. By tracing the experiences of home-based enterprise operators, the paper shows that the fortunes of the enterprises vary but that many display a remarkable ability to survive, with their operators being highly adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. Far from being temporary, rather insignificant income-generating activities, home-based enterprises make important contributions to household liveli-IDPR32_1_03_Gough.indd 45

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“…Despite these variances, it is widely recognized that informal education through apprenticeships is a prominent means for young people to acquire skills across the global South, particularly in countries with large informal economies. This is the case in West African countries where a body of literature has explored a range of aspects of apprenticeships including: motivations (Aryeetey, Doh and Andoh 2013), skills acquisition and learning the trade (Peil 1970, Obidi 1995, Frazer 2006, Palmer 2007, Schraven et al 2013), materiality (Wallaert-Pêtre 2001, Jaarsma et al 2011, power relations (Argenti 2002), organization of trades (Lloyd 1953), preparation for work (Haan and Serrière 2002, Hanson 2005, Ahadzie 2009), non-completion (Donkor 2012), and policies to support apprenticeships (Fluitman 1992, Palmer 2009. This paper adds new perspectives to the West African literature by adopting an original analytical framework that brings these various aspects together and illustrates how the changes identifited differ between trades and over time.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Informal Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shaping Geographies of Informal Education: A Global South Perspective

Gough

Langevang

Yankson

et al. 2019

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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This paper aims to shape understandings of the geographies of informal education by exploring an aspect of education that has been broadly overlooked by geographers to dateapprenticeships -within a global South context. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in Accra, Ghana, where young male and female apprentices learn a trade alongside master craftspeople, the nature of the apprenticeship system and how it is evolving are explored. The paper develops an analytical framework for examining the dynamics of informal education with three core elements: the people and everyday praxes; the materialities, technologies, and spatialities of the learning process; and the regulatory apparatus. The apprenticeship system in Ghana is shown to be constantly evolving, with some aspects of the learning process remaining informal, some being formalized, whilst others are informalised, the extent and nature of these processes varying between trades and over time. The paper thus demonstrates how the boundary between informal and formal education is far from clear-cut, with processes of informalisation and formalization occurring concomitantly. Calls are made to expand the agenda of geographies of informal education in both the global North and South to incorporate livelihood-related issues, including apprenticeships, and geographers are challenged to rethink the informal/formal education divide within education. This timely research thus forms part of broader trends to consider how addressing the global South forces a rethinking and revisioning of theoretical frameworks.

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Vulnerability, Partnerships and the Pursuit of Survival: Urban Livelihoods and Apprenticeship Contracts in a West African City

Cited by 10 publications

References 33 publications

Diverging pathways: young female employment and entrepreneurship in sub‐Saharan Africa

Diverging pathways: young female employment and entrepreneurship in sub‐Saharan Africa

Continuity and adaptability of home-based enterprises: A longitudinal study from Accra, Ghana

Shaping Geographies of Informal Education: A Global South Perspective

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