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Evaluating the impact of child labour bans for Malawi’s Southern Region tea and tobacco communities
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the lived experiences of children and their families within tea and tobacco-growing communities in southern Malawi following the ban on children working on adjacent commercial plantations during the early 2000s. Using a political economy framework, the study situates these legislative measures within Malawi’s historical, socio-economic, and legal context, while critically evaluating how neoliberal development paradigms shape the mechanisms intended to eradicate child labour. These bans, inspired by the 2000 Employment Act and aligned with ILO Convention No. 138, represent efforts to reconcile international standards with domestic socio-economic realities.Adopting an interpretivist research philosophy alongside a mixed-methods approach, the research encompasses qualitative and quantitative data collected from the districts of Mulanje, Thyolo, and Zomba. The methodologies employed included focus group discussions, interviews with children, community leaders, and household surveys. This methodological framework enhances children’s agency and situates their experiences within broader structural disparities. Ethical considerations guided participatory methods, such as drawings and language-sensitive practices, which were vital for authentically capturing the voices of children, their families, communities and policy implementers.The research findings for this thesis reveal that while formal child labour bans have reduced commercial estate child labour, these policies have been influenced by neoliberal logics that prioritise private sector self-regulation and corporate social responsibility over meaningful systemic transformation. Before 2017, plantation managers lacked effective state-enforced age verification mechanisms, subsequently relying on subjective assessments that disproportionately excluded vulnerable children based on superficial criteria rather than substantial protections grounded in children's rights. Children displaced from plantation work frequently migrate towards informal, uncertain employment that evades regulatory oversight, emphasising the displacement of exploitative labour rather than its genuine elimination.This thesis argues that neoliberal child labour interventions, while seemingly protective, obscure deep-rooted causes of child vulnerability, such as historical land disparities, limited access to education, and unstable livelihoods. Therefore, effective and sustainable solutions should transcend minimum-age formalism, addressing exploitative economic structures and prioritising community empowerment and resilience. By situating child labour within these broader political-economic relations, the study emphasises the necessity for transformative approaches that focus on children's lived realities and rights, ultimately challenging the deficiencies of current child labour policies
Evaluating the impact of child labour bans for Malawi’s Southern Region tea and tobacco communities
No full textThis thesis investigates the lived experiences of children and their families within tea and tobacco-growing communities in southern Malawi following the ban on children working on adjacent commercial plantations during the early 2000s. Using a political economy framework, the study situates these legislative measures within Malawi’s historical, socio-economic, and legal context, while critically evaluating how neoliberal development paradigms shape the mechanisms intended to eradicate child labour. These bans, inspired by the 2000 Employment Act and aligned with ILO Convention No. 138, represent efforts to reconcile international standards with domestic socio-economic realities.Adopting an interpretivist research philosophy alongside a mixed-methods approach, the research encompasses qualitative and quantitative data collected from the districts of Mulanje, Thyolo, and Zomba. The methodologies employed included focus group discussions, interviews with children, community leaders, and household surveys. This methodological framework enhances children’s agency and situates their experiences within broader structural disparities. Ethical considerations guided participatory methods, such as drawings and language-sensitive practices, which were vital for authentically capturing the voices of children, their families, communities and policy implementers.The research findings for this thesis reveal that while formal child labour bans have reduced commercial estate child labour, these policies have been influenced by neoliberal logics that prioritise private sector self-regulation and corporate social responsibility over meaningful systemic transformation. Before 2017, plantation managers lacked effective state-enforced age verification mechanisms, subsequently relying on subjective assessments that disproportionately excluded vulnerable children based on superficial criteria rather than substantial protections grounded in children's rights. Children displaced from plantation work frequently migrate towards informal, uncertain employment that evades regulatory oversight, emphasising the displacement of exploitative labour rather than its genuine elimination.This thesis argues that neoliberal child labour interventions, while seemingly protective, obscure deep-rooted causes of child vulnerability, such as historical land disparities, limited access to education, and unstable livelihoods. Therefore, effective and sustainable solutions should transcend minimum-age formalism, addressing exploitative economic structures and prioritising community empowerment and resilience. By situating child labour within these broader political-economic relations, the study emphasises the necessity for transformative approaches that focus on children's lived realities and rights, ultimately challenging the deficiencies of current child labour policies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Impacts of irrigation heterogeneity on sugarcane yields, energy and water use in sub-saharan Africa.
Get PDFHess, Tim M. - Associate SupervisorSugarcane is an economically strategic crop in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),
underpinning the rural livelihoods and economies of many SSA countries.
Despite its economic importance, yield trends in the region have been declining
by an average of 0.03 t/ha per year over the last 60 years. However, total cane
production has been increasing by an average of one million tonnes per year over
the same period – an indication that the increase in total cane production has
largely been due to an overall expansion in cultivated area. However, this
situation is not sustainable in the long-term since land availability is limited. Whilst
irrigation has the potential to improve yields, production in SSA is typically
characterised by poor irrigation management practices as evidenced by high
levels of irrigation water use, low irrigated yields and low water productivities.
Understanding the impacts of future climate variability and drought risk on the
reliability of irrigation and identifying appropriate technology and management
options to improve yields, water and energy use and productivity are key
challenges facing the agricultural sector in SSA. Impacts of irrigation non-
uniformity on cane yields, water and energy use in SSA were identified as key
research gaps in this study.
Thus, the aim of this research was to evaluate the agronomic, environmental and
economic impacts of irrigation non-uniformity on sugarcane production in SSA.
Initially, a benchmarking study was conducted to identify opportunities to improve
cane yields and water productivity and reduce irrigation water and energy use.
Biophysical crop, water balance and economic modelling approaches were then
integrated to simulate cane yield response to water, the impacts of irrigation non-
uniformity and the relative cost and benefits of improving irrigation uniformity.
Cane yields were modelled for varying water applications and irrigation uniformity
using the DSSAT Canegro model coupled with a water balance model. The
relative financial costs and benefits of implementing different interventions to
improve irrigation management were then evaluated using a spreadsheet-based
economic model.
The results showed that there were opportunities to improve the performance of
irrigated cane production in SSA – currently characterised by lower-than-
expected yields – ranging between 83.9 and 108.9 t/ha, high irrigation water uses
and lower than potential water productivity – ranging between 5.0 and 7.8 kg/m³.
It was also established that improving irrigation uniformity leads to improved cane
yields, reduced irrigation water and energy use. It was also established that on
average a percentage improvement in irrigation uniformity could improve yields
by 0.2 – 0.5 t/ha and could reduce irrigation and energy use by 3%. These
potential yield improvements (due to improved irrigation uniformity) coupled with
a reduction in water and energy use resulted in increased revenues of between
23,300 and 70,900 MK/ha (c£18 – 65/ha) and a reduction in irrigation-related
costs by 3,700 MK/ha (c £3/ha).
Overall, the research has provided new valuable insights into the impacts of
irrigation heterogeneity on cane yields and addressed existing knowledge gaps
relating to how existing irrigation management practices in the sugarcane
industry in SSA can be improved, without the need for transformational shifts to
precision irrigation technologies. The findings provide the basis for improving
cane yields, irrigation water and energy use and productivity in both commercial
and smallholder cane production across SSA.
It is, thus, recommended that there is a need for farmers to always operate
irrigation with improved level of irrigation uniformity while ensuring proper
irrigation scheduling approaches. The implementation of irrigation uniformity
improvement interventions and adopting correct irrigation scheduling methods
would likely reduce irrigation water use, improve yield average at field level which
in turn will improve water productivity and reduce energy requirements for
irrigation. The improvement of water productivity and reduction of irrigation water
use and energy requirements would maximise crop yield benefits from irrigation
and reduce irrigation operation costs, respectively.PhD in Water, including Desig
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Performance evaluation of 830 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic power plant at Kamuzu International Airport - Malawi
No full textA Thesis submitted to the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Science in Physics degree of Makerere University.The overall performance of the 830 kWp ground-mounted grid-connected PV power plant at Kamuzu International Airport in Malawi has been evaluated on monthly and yearly basis over the monitoring period of four years, from September 2013 to August 2017. Each full year in this period (2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017) was from September to August. The derived performance parameters included reference yield, array yield, nal yield, capture losses, system losses, array efficiency, inverter efficiency, overall system efficiency, performance ratio and capacity factor. The performance of the PV power plant was simulated using PVsyst software with measured and Meteonorm long-term average weather data sets, inverter and PV module speci cations as inputs. The variation of weather data was analyzed. The measured monthly four-year average array, inverter and overall system e ciencies ranged from 14.4 to 16.0%, 94.3 to 96.0% and 13.8 to 15.2%, respectively. The annual four-year average array, inverter and
overall system e ciencies were 15.3%, 95.2% and 14.6%, respectively. The monthly four-year average capacity factor ranged from 14.6 to 20.9% with an annual average of 17.7%. The yearly performance ratios were 75%, 84%, 81% and 78%, in the years 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, respectively. The annual four-year average performance ratio was 79.5%. The
performance of the grid-connected PV power plant compared well with that of representative PV power plants reported elsewhere.MZUZU UNIVERSITY, MALAW
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