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Contribution short abstract:

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the livelihoods of rural migrants due to lockdowns. Data from 678 surveys in southern Italy showed increased vulnerability during the pandemic and changing migration patterns. Over half of the returnees remigrated, while those with remote jobs tend to stay permanently.

Contribution long abstract:

This COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant casualties, economic downturns, job losses, obligatory lockdowns, global travel bans, and massive movements to smaller areas in different parts of the world. Among these difficulties, rural migrants were particularly heavily struck, as their capacity to earn a living was halted during the lockdowns. The primary goal of this paper is to investigate COVID-19's implications for the development of rural areas by assessing whether the rural migrants who returned to their small areas due to the pandemic, supported by the increased use of smart working, is a long-term phenomenon that will not reverse. Moreover, this paper intends to evaluate the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on small municipalities focusing on its migrants by examining their vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this vulnerability may affect their migration status. The primary data was collected through a questionnaire that received 678 responses in the municipality of Lioni in southern Italy. The study revealed that the vulnerability of the entire population, especially the migrants, was notably elevated during the pandemic, and the level of vulnerability affects the likelihood of being a migrant or a returned migrant during shocks such as the COVID-19 shock. Also, more than half of those who returned during the pandemic remigrated after it. However, if individuals secure jobs or can work remotely, they may choose to return permanently.

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Contribution short abstract:

The study analyses the interrelationship between network and women’s paid work through case studies of domestic workers, trainee drivers and sex workers. The narratives highlight the role of non-kin ties in occupational mobility and diversity and the simultaneous cost of dependency on such ties.

Contribution long abstract:

In India, several supply and demand side factors have been identified as key determinants influencing women's participation in paid work. However, the role of the network in women’s entry into paid work remains underexplored.

This study analyses how kin and non-kin networks influence women's access to paid work through comparative case studies of women workers in Kolkata, India engaged or entering into domestic work, driving and sex work.

In-depth interviews reveal that domestic workers' entry into the occupation primarily depends on information available through kin ties and neighbourhood networks. While the lack of information about alternative occupations is prevalent among domestic workers, those who have been able to diversify their occupation depend upon information from formal non-kin networks such as local political parties or self-help groups.

In contrast, women entering the driving profession depend extensively on non-kin formal and informal ties for instance, on NGOs, previous employers or work acquaintances and even on digital networks for information regarding the training. However, narratives highlight that, while occupational mobility can depend upon association with non-kins across classes, such networks can often be unstable and fragile.

Contrary to popular belief, there is ample evidence that sex workers are not coerced into the work, but rather depend on kin and non-kin networks for entry. Largely, workers share a lack of trust towards the “outside world” which hinders their occupational diversification. However, some workers are able to create alternative earning opportunities through support from their customer network or the collective of sex workers.

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Contribution short abstract:

This paper examines the political determinants of universal healthcare reform in contrasting the role of government partisanship and electoral competition and their interaction with interest-based politics for determining the type of reform pursued in countries of the Global South.

Contribution long abstract:

Despite a global policy consensus towards the achievement of universal health coverage, national implementation varies widely across the world – emphasising that processes of healthcare reform remain inherently political rather than technocratic. While the literature has consistently highlighted the central role of regime type and especially democratisation, it remains poorly understood which specific attributes of democracy are conducive to achieving truly universal healthcare institutions in the Global South.

This paper examines the political determinants of universal healthcare reform by investigating two prominent drivers of policy expansion – government partisanship and electoral competition – and their interaction with two mediating factors of interest-based politics: labour unions and international development assistance. The paper codes the timing of major healthcare reforms across a sample of 95 countries in the Global South between 1995 and 2023, classifying them as either universal or segmenting. Drawing on data from the Varieties of Democracy and Development Assistance for Health databases, the analysis employs an event study to investigate the factors associated with each type of reform.

The findings demonstrate that politics plays a critical role in healthcare reform, even outweighing socio-economic factors. However, neither of the main explanatory factors – party ideology or electoral competition – is systematically associated with policy reform in the Global South. Instead, the study provides a more nuanced perspective on the complexities of political processes, showing that it is the combination of several factors – such as left-wing governments facing weak trade unions– that significantly increases the likelihood of universal reform.

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Contribution short abstract:

Digital and Financial Inclusion of women and young girls in Sub-Saharan Africa through inclusive mobile technology that fosters Sustainable Development for all. The existing Gender Gap in Mobile Internet is exacerbated by various barriers that limit social and economic growth among women and girls.

Contribution long abstract:

Emerging technologies offer both opportunities and challenges, with their impact largely depending on accessibility and user capability. Mobile technology has significantly contributed to economic and social development, particularly through digital financial services. In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money services have driven financial and digital inclusion, with a 15% increase between 2013 and 2022, boosting GDP in East and West Africa. These advancements have empowered and enabled marginalized communities, improved livelihoods and Female-headed households to benefit as women gain financial control, support education, manage businesses, and stay socially connected. Mobile money is contributing significantly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

However, challenges persist, notably the digital divide and gender gap. Women and girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face barriers such as device affordability, social norms, limited digital skills, and safety concerns, contributing to 8% of women less likely than men to own a mobile device. Women are disproportionately affected by low income, limiting their access to mobile technology and financial services.

To address this, mobile technology must be designed and tailored to be inclusive, accessible, and user-friendly for women and young girls. Bridging the digital divide requires reducing the mobile gender gap, particularly in rural areas. Young girls could benefit from mobile solutions tailored to their tech-savvy nature, fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development. By addressing gender norms and improving access to digital financial services, mobile technology can help break the cycle of poverty and empower young women to achieve financial independence and contribute to sustainable development.

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Contribution short abstract:

The research involves the development of a partisan disconfirmation model (PDM), which builds on Oliver's (1971) expectancy disconfirmation model (EDM) on citizen satisfaction and its application in citizen satisfaction with public services (Van Ryzin, 2004, 2006, 2013).

Contribution long abstract:

The partisan expectancy disconfirmation model states that citizens' evaluation of economic performance depends on citizens' identification with either the ruling or opposition party. That is, the interaction between partisanship and perceived economic performance results in citizens formulating satisfaction judgements with the ruling party's performance. If perceived economic performance is higher than citizens’ alignment with the ruling political party, it leads to positive disconfirmation and, hence, higher satisfaction with the incumbent president’s performance. Similarly, when citizens alignment with an opposition political party is higher than perceived economic performance, it leads to negative disconfirmation and hence lower satisfaction with the ruling party or president’s performance, making up the two confirmation hypotheses. On the other hand, when citizens’ identification with either the ruling (supporters) or opposition (sympathisers) party is weaker, they are more likely to give honest evaluations of the economic performance as well as honest satisfaction judgements of the ruling party's performance, thereby yielding the two disconfirmation hypotheses where we find ruling party supporters evaluating economic conditions as bad and dissatisfied with the ruling party’s performances, as well as some opposition party sympathisers who eventually evaluate economic conditions as good and expressing satisfaction with the ruling party’s performance. This model is tested using Afrobarometer survey data from an African country. The Chi2 statistic confirms the existence of the association between partisanship and economic performance, and the Cramer's V ascertains a moderately strong relationship between the two variables, hence the need to test the model's disconfirmation process using advanced econometric analyses.