1,150 research outputs found
Shea butter: connecting rural Burkinabè women to international markets through fair trade
No full textProcessed by rural West African women and desired by wealthy Northern consumers of natural beauty products, shea butter seems a prime candidate for fair trade, yet to date there has been little study of the industry. This article analyses the opportunities and constraints of the development of fair-trade exports of shea butter from Burkina Faso, taking into account the context in which shea is produced and sold locally and internationally, the concept of fair trade, and the impact of gender relations on shea production. Although a definitive positive or negative determination cannot be made, given the complex and divergent factors affecting the potential international market and the production process, the author finds that the development of the fair-trade shea butter industry in Burkina Faso has great potential. However, such development must occur with restraint and consideration of possible challenges and limitations, in order to remain sustainable and viable for rural female producers.This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.</p
The Way of Shea: Developing Permaculture Systems within the Shea Butter Supply Chain in Ghana
No full textThe aim of this work is to analyze the traditional shea butter production process and the supply chain of shea in the rural communities that produce it in the Upper West region of Ghana so as to improve these activities through developing permaculture systems and collective work in Ghana and throughout the African diaspora. This thesis focuses on the traditional shea butter process, existing permaculture systems within the process, and supply chain to market. The value of cooperatives and connecting the African Diaspora to shea for a greater social impact is also discussed. The author concludes with suggestions for opportunities to further develop a permaculture system within the shea butter supply chain through improved environmental policy, greater community cooperation, infrastructural developments, and private and public entities creating methods for greater collective impact.</p
Ele Agbe in search of a new light in Ghana's shea sector
No full textEle Agbe is a Ghanaian phrase meaning “God is alive.” Founded as a small and medium enterprise (SME), in Ghana in 1996, Ele Agbe Company is currently a dynamic business operating in the downstream shea export sector. Demand for shea is increasing for skin and hair products on the foreign market. Ele Agbe’s artisans use traditional Ghanaian tools and methods, and the highest quality materials available, including unique scents. The protected knowledge build up of unique scents in its shea product mix has given Ele Agbe its trade secret. At Ele Agbe, artisans pass on their skills to younger generations, conducting workshops for school groups and accepting apprentices from throughout Ghana. The business is confronted with challenges partly as a result of non-existent working policy for shea and breaks or gaps in the shea supply chain preventing it from achieving full potential. The company needs to consider how to improve on its’ firm and business networks given its internal and external environment in order to expand.Values Technology and InnovationTechnology, Policy and Managemen
Market Access through Cooperative Action: Insights from Shea Cooperatives in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana
No full textAims: The aim of this study is to investigate how cooperative activity in the shea business affects market access. Access to shea business market is fundamental for the success of shea production. Yet shea nuts pickers are not always able to provide the shea nuts because of the seasonal nature making ready market a challenge.
Place of Study: This study was conducted to assess market access through cooperative action: Insights from shea cooperatives in the Tamale metropolis.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was used in this study among study participants in the Tamale metropolis. Simple random sampling technique was applied to obtain a sample size of 384. The collected data was filled on cleared for completeness and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science version (SPSS) 21.0 and Microsoft word excels 2013.
Results: From the results, 384 (100%) study participants indicated that cooperative assisted them to get access to market information about shea production. The results showed that, 84% study participants cited that being a member of the cooperative helped them to get ready market for shea nut/butter products. The results also showed that, the category of study participants and age were significantly associated with knowledge of factors that undermine the shea cooperatives from accessing markets (χ2=45.7, p=0.001; χ2=49.7, p=0.002) respectively. However, variables such as education and marital status respectively (χ2=10.3, p=0.10; χ2=10.5, p=0.14) were not statistically significant and had no association
Conclusion: The study concluded that, cooperatives had a positive effect on women access to shea market at the study setting. Among other things, the study recommends that, cooperative governance structures should be strengthened to enhance coordination, bulk marketing, and collective bargaining power for better market access
Once More to the City
No full textAuthor Suzanne Strempek Shea attended the Portland School of Art in the late 1970s and teaches today at the University of Maine\u27s Stonecoast MFA program. She reminisces of what Portland was like in the 1970s and 1980s. [images
Quality characteristics of West African shea butter (Vitellaria paradoxa) and approaches to extend shelf-life
No full textShea butter is a versatile plant fat extracted from kernels of shea nuts, seeds of shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa). Shea butter has long been used in sub-Saharan Africa for medicinal, culinary, and other applications and serves as a cocoa butter equivalent in the manufacture of chocolate as well as an ingredient in cosmetics. Shea butter, rich in unsaturated fatty acids undergoes hydrolytic and oxidative degradation during post-harvest processing and storage, resulting in inconsistent and degraded quality and limited shelf-life. The objective of this study was to assess important quality characteristics of shea butter. Seven West African shea butters were analyzed to measure physicochemical parameters by wet chemical tests and to measure chemical composition by gas chromatographic analysis. Physical properties were consistent among samples and within the range of typical shea butter. The samples also shared similar chemical compositions, showing palmitic (3.36-4.44 % of total fatty acids), stearic (39.74-44.62 %), oleic (40.71-44.48 %), and linoleic acids (5.73-6.41 %) as the major fatty acids and α-amyrin having anti-inflammatory property (57.26-64.37 % of total sterols and triterpenes) as the major unsaponifiable matter. Moisture, insoluble impurities, free fatty acids, and peroxide values were needed to be controlled. Free fatty acid level was the most variable parameter, ranged from 1.07 to 8.56 %. Peroxide value was low enough except the one which was as high as 15.32 mEq/kg. Total unsaponifiable matters were measured lower (2.21-4.18 %) compared to the previous studies (4-11 %) but still higher than many other plant oils and fats (~2 %). This study also aimed at identifying the protective effect of selected synthetic (BHT) and natural (rosmarinic and gallic acids) antioxidants on shea butter from oxidation. Peroxide value, conjugated dienes, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, and the amount of major fatty acids were measured as oxidative parameters at 0, 72 and 144 hours while the control and samples with 0.02 % of antioxidants were stored at 90 °C with air flow. The antioxidants were significantly effective in protecting shea butter from oxidation and no significant difference in the effect of synthetic and natural antioxidants was found.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Hee Seung Nah
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full text|Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John, the Apostle. Although the Gospel of John never reveals the name of the "beloved disciple" tradition has identified him with John, the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles and author of the fourth Gospel. For some reason, the old Smothers brothers' comedy routine comes to mind whenever I hear about the "disciple whom Jesus loved." The playful argument (paraphrased here) takes place between Dick, the straight man and his slower brother, Tommy:|Tommy: Mom always liked you best. Mom always liked my brother best and she never liked me.|Dick: Why do you always keep telling everyone, "Mom always liked you best"? Every time you get mad you say, "Mom always liked you best."|Tommy: Oh yea?! Well… well, mom always liked you best!|Such sibling rivalry seems so inconsistent with what we know about Jesus. Surely he doesn't play favorites. Doesn't Jesus love us all equally? And yet, today's reading refers to Peter and "the other disciple whom Jesus loved."|Tommy: You always picked on me! You and mom... my mom and my brother got together to say, "we don't like you" because mom always liked you best!|This other disciple outruns Peter, reaching the tomb first (mentioned twice, as if to rub it in). He's the one who saw and believed (as if to imply that Peter did not).|Dick: Do you know why she liked me best?|Tommy: She - er, OH?!|Dick: Sure she liked me best. Why not? Would you like to know why she liked me best? Do you wanna know why?|Tommy: I didn't know she liked you best...|To understand John we need to know a little about the Johannine community he wrote to. Most likely, this early Christian community traced its foundation to one of Jesus' followers who came to be known as the "beloved disciple." The writer of John wanted to show that the witness value of this founder rivaled that of Peter. So the author "builds up" this unnamed disciple to establish his credentials with the community.|Further, many early Christians began to see Christianity more as spiritual enlightenment in which salvation came to a select few who were "in the know." So the author of John also wanted counter the threat that Christianity would become more about what you know as opposed to who you know. The "beloved disciple" shows us the importance of the love that exists not only between him and Jesus, but also between Jesus and us. The Gospel of John thus calls each one of us to enter into a similar deep and loving relationship with Jesus.|Echoing the first reading, God calls us into the most important fellowship, the only relationship that will make our joy complete. God calls each of us to become the disciple whom Jesus loves… because only Jesus can love each of us the best
Representation in Cognitive Science - Replies
No full textIn their constructive reviews, Frances Egan, Randy Gallistel and Steven Gross have raised some important problems for the account of content advanced by Nicholas Shea in Representation in Cognitive Science (2018, OUP). Here the author addresses their main challenges as follows. Egan argues that the account includes an unrecognised pragmatic element; and that it makes contents explanatorily otiose. Gallistel raises questions about homomorphism and correlational information. Gross puts the account to work to resolve the dispute about probabilistic contents in perception, but argues that a question remains about whether probabilities are found in the content or instead in the manner of representation
Monetizing Sommalife’s Social and Environmental Impact: Exploring opportunities for Sommalife to scale its impact and disturb the shea industry
No full textSmallholder farmers in the Shea Industry live a challenging life. From lack of economic opportunities to climate change, if they are not helped their already troubling situation will worsen. Sommalife is a social startup who strives to sustainably improve the lives of rural farmers in West Africa by helping with production, protecting lands from deforestation dn having developed a software to improve operations. Sommalife has been successful at this to a small extent and has set the stage for an impactful act in West Africa. Sommalife currently does this with their own profits as the shea supply chain does not pay for impact at the moment. Without this support Sommalife will struggle to scale and improve its impact. Existing tools to monetize impact , such as Fair Trade, do not apply to the widespreadness of Sommalife’s operations and the poverty level of the farmers as their operations have high monitoring costs. Fortunately, the world is changing and a demand from consumers for sustainable products is affecting industries. Industries with similarities to the shea industry like the cacao industry. Sommalife has an opportunity to monetize their impact by advancing the industry and attempting to address the consumers. This can be supported by opportunities to monetize their social and environmental impact through carbon credits and a form of storytelling driven by impact data. The climate projects are supported by partnerships and will provide additional social and financial benefits to communities, while also generating carbon credits. On the social side, Sommalife can monetize its impact through data-driven storytelling. This involves turning data into tangible narratives that build consumer trust and brand loyalty for Sommalife and its partners. In return Sommalife will expect these companies to pay an impact fee. These services are by a brand strategy and roadmap to effectively execute and communicate Sommalife’s mission to drive change in the shea industry.Strategic Product Desig
Mi:Wi 3027
No full textMi:Wi 3027 is based on the incredible true story of a lifelong friendship developed between the first Ngarrindjeri serviceman from the South Australian community of Raukkan, Roland Carter, and Jewish German ethnologist Leonhard Adam. Captured while fighting for the Australian Imperial Forces on the Western Front, Roland was incarcerated in a camp for prisoners of special interest. Leonhard, a new graduate from the University of Berlin, was sent to interrogate these POW’s about their cultural backgrounds and beliefs.
A warm comradery sprang up between the two young men, one that was destined to last over forty years, and go through a remarkable reversal through the next World War.
Mi:Wi 3027 has sweeping themes of imperialism, oppression, war and an unshakeable longing for freedom. And, at the heart of it all, a friendship that endured through some of the most tumultuous upheavals of the twentieth centurNo Full Tex
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