Search Results (35)

Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) have emerged in Latin America as an alternative to conventional market-driven certification, offering a community-based framework to validate sustainable agricultural and social practices. Rooted in collective responsibility and dialogue between producers, consumers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state institutions, PGS aim to empower smallholders by reducing certification costs and strengthening agroecological transitions. This review examines their development across diverse Latin American contexts, highlighting both their innovative potential and the persistent challenges that limit their scalability and formal recognition. A literature-based approach combined with a stakeholder analysis was employed, integrating case studies from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, and other countries. To systematize findings, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and TOWS (Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, Strengths) frameworks were applied, assessing strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of producers and consumers and formulating strategies to enhance resilience and legitimacy. Results show that PGS foster social capital, technical learning, and access to local markets; however, they are constrained by high time commitments, reliance on voluntary labour, uneven participation, and limited consumer awareness. The analysis indicates that the most promising pathway is a combination of growth strategies, including leveraging short supply chains, community-based fairs, and digital platforms, with recovery strategies centred on consumer education and producer capacity building. More conservative strategies remain crucial in specific contexts: redistributing workloads, introducing compensation for administrative tasks, and strengthening conflict mediation can help preserve system viability when engagement or resources are scarce. Defence strategies, aimed at reinforcing autonomy and reducing dependence on external actors, are better conceived as long-term goals under current conditions. Full article

This article argues that sustainability governance in small-scale regenerative aquaculture arises less from formal regulation than from the relational, ethical, and temporal labour of practitioners. Based on an ethnographic study of Câr-y-Môr, Wales’s first community-owned regenerative ocean farm, the research combines over 250 h of participant observation, 25 interviews, and document analysis with transdisciplinary humanities-informed sustainability science (THiSS). The study shows how technocratic environmentalism, reliant on auditing, reporting, and standardised procedures, often clashes with the shifting rhythms of tides, weather, and the embodied work of marine labour. Ethnography uniquely reveals the embodied knowledge, improvisation, and moral commitment through which practitioners continually remake governance, translating bureaucratic rules into ecologically and socially meaningful practice. The findings demonstrate that adaptive governance requires recognition of local and experiential expertise, proportionate regulatory frameworks, and protected spaces for experimentation and learning. Seen in this way, sustainability shifts from a fixed goal to a relational process. When governance learns from practice and care is recognised as a form of knowledge, it becomes more adaptive, situated, and responsive, revealing both the constraints of technocratic control and the possibilities of care-based policy and practice. Full article

Sandstone quarrying in Lekokoaneng contributes to both local and national economic development, yet it raises concerns about environmental degradation and community livelihoods. Using a mixed-methods design framed by the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) and the Sustainable Development Theory (SDT), 203 households were surveyed across five buffer zones (0–1000 m) around the formal quarry site in Lekokoaneng, Berea District, Lesotho. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, while qualitative responses underwent thematic analysis and were transformed into quantifiable categories. Quarrying generated employment and small-business opportunities concentrated within 0–600 m of the site, alongside elevated reports of dust, soil degradation and water contamination that undermined agriculture and health. Households nearest the quarry reported the highest income benefits (e.g., 35% via employment) but also the greatest environmental burdens. Households furthest away reported fewer risks but also limited economic gain. Thematic analysis yielded four domains: Socio-Economic Empowerment, Livelihood Vulnerability, Health and Safety Risks, and Environmental Degradation and Control. Integrating SLF and SDT shows quarrying as a double-edged livelihood system with short-term financial gains that coincide with erosion of natural, human and social capitals. Targeted environmental safeguards, labour formalisation and community-inclusive governance are essential to realign quarrying with resilience and sustainability goals. Full article

Global policy narratives on livestock development increasingly emphasize environmental concerns, often overlooking the social dimensions of the sector. In the case of dairy, the world’s most valuable agricultural commodity, its role in social and economic development remains poorly quantified. Our study contributes to a more balanced vision of the UN SDGs thanks to the inclusion of a socio-economic dimension. Here we present a novel empirical approach to assess the socio-economic impacts of dairy development using a new global dataset and non-parametric modelling techniques (local polynomial regressions), with yield as a proxy for sectoral performance. We find that as dairy systems intensify, the number of farm households engaged in production declines, yet household incomes rise. On-farm labour productivity also increases, accompanied by a reduction in employment but higher wages. In dairy processing, employment initially grows, peaks, and then contracts, again with rising wages. The most substantial impact is observed among consumers: an increased milk supply leads to lower prices and improved affordability, expanding the access to dairy products. Additionally, dairy development is associated with greater agricultural value added, an expanding tax base, and the increased formalization of the economy. These findings suggest that dairy development, beyond its environmental footprint, plays a significant and largely positive role in social transformation, yet is having to adapt sustainably while tackling labour force relocation, and that dairy development’s social impacts mimic the general agricultural sector. These results might be of interest for the assessment of policies regarding dairy development. Full article

In a climate of pervasive teacher shortages, initiatives have focused on attracting new teachers to the profession, with hardest-to-staff schools more likely to fill vacancies with early-career teachers, including those with conditional status. In Australia, workforce policy prioritises induction and mentoring to support transition to the profession and improve retention. This paper aims to understand mentor teacher experiences in hardest-to-staff schools, where a growing cohort of inexperienced teachers increases the need for mentoring. The analysis is based on data from semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers in six schools across two Australian states, as part of a larger project exploring work experiences of teachers in hardest-to-staff schools. In addition to formal mentoring, our findings illustrate that in these schools, informal and incidental mentoring is widespread. Further, the iterative nature of novice teacher induction creates a sense of ambivalence in longer-serving teachers. While experienced teachers find reward in supporting early-career colleagues, the hidden labour inherent to constant incidental mentoring encroaches on the time available to manage their own workload, sometimes leading to frustration and even resentment. We conclude that while mentoring is crucial with so many new entrants to the profession, policymakers should be aware of the labour associated with increased incidental mentoring to avoid unintended consequences for teachers who find themselves in the position of supporting growing numbers of new staff. Full article

In Canada, 67% of unpaid caregivers are simultaneously balancing paid employment with unpaid care, equating to over 5.2 million Canadian Carer-Employees (CEs). This balancing act often incurs negative impacts on CEs’ health and well-being, including burnout, resulting in adverse effects on their labour force participation. To mitigate these social and economic impacts, McMaster University partnered with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) to develop the CSA B701:17 (R2021) Carer-inclusive and accommodating organizations standard and accompanying handbook B701-18HB Helping worker-carers in your organization. Since publication in 2017, there has been minimal uptake of the Standard across Canadian workplaces, with just 1062 complimentary downloads total. To determine the level of uptake across workplaces in Canada, the present mixed-methods study used purposive sampling to collect survey (n = 71) and semi-structured interview data (n = 11). The survey data was analyzed for descriptive statistics and logistic regression modelling. The interview data were thematically analyzed for common CFWPs and barriers to Standard uptake. It was found that only 24% of workplaces have implemented the Standard into their workplace practices, with full implementation and current supports as strong predictors of formal uptake. Prominent themes around barriers to uptake and existing organizational policies highlight the critical importance of workplace culture in facilitating CFWPs. Full article

Caregiving plays a crucial role in aging societies by supporting individuals with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or aging-related needs. The unpaid labour provided by caregivers diverts healthcare resources from the formal healthcare system; however, this incurs costs to the caregivers themselves in terms of declines in personal wellbeing. This study explores the relationship between caregiving and healthcare spending for two groups of caregivers: eldercare only and sandwiched. We found that physician visits were the most common resource used by caregivers, at a mean of 3.69 (SD = 4.01) visits over a 6-month period, excluding non-users of this service. This was followed by mental health services (M = 5.86, SD = 7.02), emergency room visits (M = 1.77, SD = 1.38), and hospital admissions (M = 3.61, SD = 8.53). There were no significant differences in healthcare utilization between eldercare and sandwiched caregivers. There were mixed results regarding characteristics associated with greater resource use; however, the hours of weekly caregiving were most consistently associated with greater healthcare utilization, indicating that healthcare use may increase with care burden. Full article

Background/Objectives: Ageing of the population is a pertinent characteristic in developed societies that raises questions of who provides care and how care is provided to frail and dependent old people. The majority of care is provided by family members, friends, and neighbours, many of whom are of working age and active in the labour market. The aim of this study is to research how work and care are intertwined and how they cause conflict for individuals in Europe. Methods: A hierarchical regression analysis of European Quality of Life Survey data was performed to evaluate the amount of explained variance of work–life conflict according to caring situation, working conditions, and demographic characteristics of an adult European population. A stratified, clustered multistage sample design was used to select 15,656 adult respondents working as employees. Results: The results show that the three blocks explain about 18% of work–life conflict, with working conditions being the most influential block, followed by demographic characteristics and caring situation. Conclusions: The frequency of caring, use of formal care, and quality of formal services significantly mitigate work–life conflict, together with the number of working hours, commuting, fear of losing one’s job, fear of having insufficient income in old age, and the ease of making ends meet. Care regimes also have a considerable effect on work–life conflict. Countries have the power and responsibility to support working carers in their multiple and often conflicting roles by allowing flexible work arrangements, the right to reduce the number of working hours safely, employment protection during care, emergency leave, and short- and long-term leave, as well as by investing in community-based long-term care models and services. Full article

This study examines the causal relationship between informality and globalisation in 30 African countries. It deviates from traditional research by adopting a bi-directional framework to address reverse causality. By applying the DH causality method in both linear and nonlinear frameworks, this research challenges the assumption of a linear relationship and finds that the causal structure is better explained within a nonlinear asymmetric context. This paper provides recommendations based on the identified causal relationships. For countries in which globalisation leads to informality, such as Angola, Congo, Guinea, Gambia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the paper suggests policy measures to integrate the informal sector into the formal economy. These measures include designing programmes to facilitate transition, implementing skill development initiatives, and establishing support mechanisms for entrepreneurship and small businesses. Additionally, this paper advises the development of social safety nets, improved market access, effective monitoring and regulation mechanisms, education on the benefits of globalisation, and international cooperation. For countries experiencing positive shocks from informality to globalisation, this paper recommends targeted support programs for entrepreneurship, initiatives to formalize the sector, the enhancement of market access, and skill development tailored to the needs of the informal sector. These policy recommendations aim to capitalize on the positive shocks in informality by fostering entrepreneurship, formalization, market access, and skill development. In the case of negative shocks in globalisation leading to positive shocks in informality, the paper suggests implementing resilience-building policies for the informal sector during economic downturns, establishing social safety nets, and adopting flexible labour policies. Full article

Rapid technological innovations are changing the jobs that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students are employed in after completing their education. Therefore, employers are looking for applicants with skills beyond the specialised professional competencies that can be acquired in the chosen subjects during formal education. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have an important role to play in this process, as they endeavour to equip graduates with the skills and knowledge for future jobs. Our study aims to identify the key competencies that Slovenian and Norwegian companies expect from graduates of selected STEM degree programmes in both countries. Based on these findings, the participating HEIs can tailor their degree programmes to the employability requirements of companies. This study first analysed European and international recommendations and initiatives relevant to skills development in STEM employment and education. We selected 30 key competencies and included them in the questionnaires in which companies’ human resources managers (HRMs) defined their attitudes towards employability skills in the future. We focused on companies employing graduates of the Ecotechnologies and Civil and Environmental Engineering programmes of the participating HEIs. The analysis of the results showed that companies in the two countries have different attitudes towards skills. Four competencies were identified as more important in both countries: (i) management and design of processes, technologies, and people’s work, (ii) adaptation to changes, (iii) ability to manage uncertainty, and (iv) innovation. Based on the analysis, we have developed a framework of ten employability skills for STEM students. In addition, this study provides the basis for operating a decision support system (DSS) to monitor the development of students’ competencies. The DSS is being developed as part of the RESPO-VI project supported by the Norway Grants to better match the skills of STEM students as future job seekers with the needs of potential employers. The study’s results will also help other formal and non-formal education adapt their curricula and thus reduce the employability skill gaps between current STEM education and future labour market needs. Full article

The frequent failures of government-funded broiler enterprises raise concerns about the viability and wisdom of government funding for smallholders. This study therefore investigates the scope for the profitability of the small-scale broiler production and the range of socio-demographic and production issues that are implicated. The study area was the Northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province of South Africa, where smallholder broiler production is popular. A total of 75 randomly selected, small-scale broiler producers from three districts in Northern KZN, namely, King Cetshwayo, uMkhanyakude, and Zululand, participated in the survey out of the 134 small-scale broiler producers supported by the government. The analyses employed diverse descriptive analysis and included the calculation of the gross margin to proxy broiler chicken profitability. Three models were fitted for the empirical analysis, namely, the OLS, the Two-Stage Least Squares, and the Stochastic Frontier models, to determine the factors influencing profitability, correcting for endogeneity, and computing the technical efficiency and inefficiency of the small-scale broiler production system. The results show that the primary production and marketing challenges were the lack of infrastructure (abattoirs and refrigeration) and the lack of formal markets, including the lack of market information and high transport costs. On average, the sampled government-funded small-scale broiler enterprises achieved a positive gross profit margin of 31 percent, which is relatively low when compared to the small-scale farmers that work for a large-scale enterprise—the Commercial Chicken Farm, near Pietermaritzburg. It was revealed that the profits are significantly influenced by gender, farmgate price, access to market information, and access to extension services. The production system was also shown to be operating at a reasonably high technical efficiency, which is strongly influenced by flock size, feeds, and labour input, while age, gender, and educational level contributed to technical inefficiency. The recent crisis that was experienced by the poultry industry in South Africa linked to the outbreak of the Avian Flu and its devastating consequences point up the urgency for more investment in infrastructure to enhance bird safety at affordable costs. Although the government-funded small-scale broiler enterprises in Northern KZN were found to be viable, it is evident that they can be better, possibly through more capacity building and collective action to take full advantage of the economies of scale. Full article

Target2 is the Eurozone’s cross-border payment system, which is mandatory for the settlement of euro transactions involving Eurozone central banks. It is being used to save the Eurozone from imploding. A key underlying problem is that the Eurozone does not satisfy the economic conditions for being an Optimal Currency Area, i.e., a geographical area over which a single currency and monetary policy can operate on a sustainable, long-term basis. The different business cycles in the Eurozone, combined with poor labour and capital market flexibility, mean that systematic trade surpluses and deficits will build up because inter-regional exchange rates can no longer be changed. Surplus regions need to recycle the surpluses back into deficit regions via transfers to keep the Eurozone economies in balance. But the largest surplus country—Germany—refuses to formally accept that the European Union is a ‘transfer union’. However, deficit countries, including the largest of these—Italy—are using Target2 for this purpose. Target2 has become a giant credit card for Eurozone members that import more than they export to other members, but with two differences compared with normal credit card debt: neither the debt nor the interest that accrues on the debt ever needs to be repaid. Furthermore, the size of the deficits being built up is causing citizens in deficit countries to lose confidence in their banking systems, leading them to transfer their funds to banks in surplus countries. Target2 is also being used to facilitate this capital flight. However, these are not viable long-term solutions to systemic Eurozone trade imbalances and weakening national banking systems. There are only two realistic outcomes. The first is a full fiscal and political union, with Brussels determining the levels of tax and public expenditure in each member state—which has long been the objective of Europe’s political establishment. The second outcome is that the Eurozone breaks up. Full article

Associative enterprises linked to the social economy continue to be an important economic alternative for small producers, generating decent work opportunities for people excluded from the formal labour market and contributing to sustainable development. The social and economic importance of this type of initiative has prompted several scientific publications on its success factors, leaving a gap in its practicality, raising the question: How can success factors of associative productive ventures be integrated into management indicators that promote their organisational sustainability? The aim is to define and prioritise management indicators that promote associative productive ventures through the analysis of key success factors. This study was carried out using a combination of BSC management methodology and AHP multicriteria decision making, based on a bibliographic review of success factors and the criteria of experts including managers of consolidated production associations in Quito-Ecuador. The results show that the indicators of participatory leadership, technical training and labour integration are the most relevant in the consolidation of associative productive ventures, prompting the conclusion that the prioritisation and integration of business and social management indicators would boost the organisational sustainability of associative ventures. Full article

The global commercial fishing industry, which employs approximately 159,800 seafarers worldwide (as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), faces a significant challenge in terms of safety. According to estimates by the International Labour Organization, approximately 24,000 seafarers lose their lives each year in fishing-related accidents. However, most existing guidelines for preventing maritime accidents primarily target vessels involved in international navigation, often inadequately addressing the unique risks faced by small-scale boats operating in coastal areas. This study focuses on trap fishery, a widely practiced fishing method globally, analyzing quantitative data from 1790 maritime accidents and conducting a survey involving 101 seafarers in South Korea. Utilizing Bayesian network analysis, aligned with Formal Safety Assessment protocols, the authors developed preventive guidelines aiming to reduce the rate of fatal accidents. The guidelines, derived from the data analysis, are anticipated to provide invaluable assistance to seafarers engaged in trap fishery not only in South Korea but also across various countries worldwide. By enhancing safety measures in this critical sector, this research will contribute to the overarching goal of sustainability within the global commercial fishing industry. Full article

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is Africa’s second most-grown crop and is widely used as the staple food after maize. The demand for potato production is increasing and growth in the area under production is estimated at 1.25% a year. Potato has great potential when it comes to food security and farm returns for many smallholder farmers. However, potato productivity is relatively low due to many factors that contribute to the low yield (including drought, poor production practices, and limited access to high-quality seed) and inefficient use of resources. Potato farmers have no access to formal markets, which may reduce the profitability of their enterprises. Additionally, while many studies have been conducted on the resource aspect of vegetable crops, very little is known about the profit efficiency of potato producers in the country. At the same time, efforts to commercialize potato production have not delivered the expected outcomes. This study aimed to estimate the profitability of potatoes, evaluate farm-level efficiency, and identify the factors that influence the efficiency levels of potato farmers in the Eastern Cape Province who engage in irrigation farming. The study used multi-stage and snowball sampling to select 150 smallholder potato farmers from whom primary data were collected using close-ended questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive, gross margin analysis and translog stochastic profit frontier (SPF) modelling. The study found potato production to be profitable by as much as ZAR 7027.11 per annum. It is shown that farm size under potato, seed, pesticides, and fertilisers contribute positively towards the improvement of efficiency while labour and hired tractors negatively affect efficiency. The average technical efficiency of potato production among irrigated smallholder farmers was 89%, indicating that potato farmers could increase output by 11% without increasing inputs. Potato farm size, years spent in school, access to extension services, family size, and non-farm income are socio-economic and institutional factors influencing the farmers’ technical efficiency. However, the farmer’s age, access to credit, and cold storage had a negative effect on their productivity. The study recommends that government and non-governmental organisations strengthen the existing extension service provided to smallholder farmers and make efforts to provide farmers with long-term training and education to increase their productivity. Full article