Journal articles on the topic 'Foreign investments - Kenya'

The purpose of the study was to establish the effects of foreign capital flows on economic growth of Kenya. The study employed a quantitative research design. The target population of this study was Kenya since it is the Center of analysis. Considering that the population is one country, Kenya, secondary data was collected over a period of 25 years from 1993 to 2017. Therefore, the number of observations was X * 25 = 25. The research conducted a census on Kenya using secondary data from Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Central Bank of Kenya, World Bank and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Data over time was analyzed using a time series model and trend analysis. Model test and correlation analysis were done before conducting regression and univariate regression analysis. The study found that, when external commercial borrowing is increased by one US dollar, annual GDP will increase by 395.990% when all other factors are kept constant. The opposite also applies. But, if external commercial borrowing is zero, annual GDP will decrease by USD 8,151,662,920.94 when all other factors are kept constant. Additionally, when Foreign Portfolio investment is increased by one US dollar, annual GDP will increase by 805.37% when all other factors are kept constant. The opposite also applies. But, if Foreign Portfolio Investment is zero, annual GDP will remain to be USD 25394237979 when all other factors are kept constant. Also, when FDI is increased by one US dollar, annual GDP will increase by 3026.30% when all other factors are kept constant. The opposite also applies. But, if FDI is zero, annual GDP will still increase by USD 18493289187.3 when all other factors are kept constant. Further results revealed that when Non-Resident Kenyan Deposits are increased by one US dollar, annual GDP will increase by 3738.65% when all other factors are kept constant. The opposite also applies. But, if Non-Resident Kenyan Deposits is zero, annual GDP will remain to be USD 4869680695.47 when all other factors are kept constant. The study recommends that the Government pursues policies that will attract and favour net increases in Foreign Direct Investments, Foreign Portfolio Investments, External Commercial Borrowings and Non-Resident Kenyan deposits into the country.

The study established the relationship between Foreign Direct investments and Capital Flight in Kenya over the period 1998 to 2018. Quarterly time series data for calculation of capital flight and Gross Domestic Product growth rate, inflation and Foreign Direct investments were collected from the Central Bank of Kenya and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Two Autoregressive Distributed-lagged model models were fitted. Regression coefficients for FDI were 0.44 and -0.040 in the short run and -0.501 in the long run. The p values were 0.008 and 0.015 and 0.654 respectively. The results indicated that a 1 % increase in current quarters FDI would lead to a 0.44% increase in capital flight and a 1% increase in previous quarters FDI would lead to a decrease of 0.040% in capital flight. Regression results showed a coefficient of 0.006 and - 0.004 for Gross Domestic Product growth rate in the short run, and 0.038 in the long run. The p values were 0.422, and 0.638 and 0.749 respectively meaning that Gross Domestic Product growth rate and the capital flight had no significant relationship. Regression results showed a coefficient of -0.001 and -0.005 for inflation in the short run and -0.088 for inflation for the long run. The p values were 0.844 and 0.363 and 0.253 respectively. This indicated that inflation and the capital flight had an insignificant relationship. The study recommends that government adopts strategic management on FDI inflow transactions to avoid possible leakages of the same money going out as capital flight.

Fluctuations of foreign portfolio equity intensify risk and unpredictability in financial institutions leading to high volatility. The main aim of this study was to find out the effect of foreign portfolio equity outflows on stock returns of listed financial institutions in Kenya. The study population was 21 financial institutions listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Using purposive sampling technique the study concentrated on 14 financial institutions. The research design of the study was causal as it is concerned more with understanding the connection between cause and effect relationships. The study adopted panel data regression using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method where the data included time series and cross-sectional. A unit root test was carried in this study to examine stationarity of variables because it used panel data which combined both cross-sectional and time series information. Panel estimation results indicated that foreign portfolio equity outflows have no effect on stock returns of listed financial institutions in Kenya. The study recommended implementation of policies that would curb foreign portfolio outflows in financial institutions in order to minimize reversals of foreign portfolio investments.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze tourism-led growth hypothesis in Kenya’s economy. Materials and Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted. This study targeted international tourism receipts, employment, economies of scale and capital investments in tourism related economic activities that included hotels and food service activities, wholesale and retail trade, transport and information communication and travel agencies, entertainment and recreation in the period 1980 to 2019.The study used purposive sampling. a sample size of data for 40 years from 1980 to 2019 was used. The data were collected from KNBS, the World Bank and WTTC using a secondary data collection sheet. Using real GDP per capita as the dependent variable and international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments as the independent variables, the study used regression and vector error correction (VEC) to carry out the analysis. The analysis was systematic and begins with diagnostic tests that included Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM test, Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey test for homoscedasticity, Jarque-Bera normality test, VIF multi-collinearity test, Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test and Johansen Co-integration test and finally the regression and the vector error correction analysis. Data analysis was done using E-views software. Results: The study results showed that international tourism receipts, tourism related employment and economies of scale positively influence real GDP per capita in both short run and long run equilibrium. Capital investments negatively affected real GDP per capita in the long run but had a positive effect in the short run equilibrium. Granger causality test presented a bi-directional causality between international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments and real GDP per capita. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The country should enact policies that promote tourism related activities because the benefits derived from tourist expenditures positively influence the growth of the economy. Institutions such as Brand Kenya, Tourism Promotion Council, the Ministry of Tourism and recruitment of international tourism ambassadors should be strengthened to ensure more foreign tourists are attracted into the country.

Domestic tax revenue mobilisation has received great focus among developing countries in order to achieve the development objectives with less reliance on foreign aid. The effort to mobilise revenue in developing countries has been undermined by some challenges such as high levels of non-compliance, low taxable capacity and effort averaging 10 to 20 per cent compared to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, which collect 30 to 40 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP). To achieve Kenya’s Vision 2030 development objectives, the tax administration is expected to collect over 20.7 per cent of GDP and ensure revenue growth of 10 per cent per annum (Republic of Kenya, 2007). This called for establishing how far the country is from reaching its maximum tax potential and the effect of various factors that determine the taxable capacity of the country. Emphasis was placed on value-added tax (VAT) due to its high revenueraising potential. Using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation technique and maximum likelihood for stochastic frontier approach, the study estimated the taxable capacity and effort of value-added tax (VAT). The results indicated that capital investment, manufacturing and private credit as a per cent of GDP impacted positively on taxable capacity while inflation, exports and agriculture negatively affected taxable capacity. The tax effort estimation results indicated that the average tax effort between 2011 and 2015 was 0.5, thus classifying the country under low collection, high effort category. Therefore, broadening the tax base through increased investments, manufacturing and improving on the efficiency of tax administration is fundamental in enhancing revenue mobilisation.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of external debt liability on economic growth in Kenya. Materials and Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted. The target population was three institutions: The National Treasury, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and the World Bank. The study used time series data. The designated sample for this study covered a period of 43 years (1977–2019). Secondary data was used in this study. The data collected was on GDP of Kenya between 1977 and 2019, External public debt in terms of US dollars from 1977 to 2019, External private debt from 1977 and 2019 and external debt service payments from 1977 to 2019, all in US dollars. A data collection sheet was used to collect the data on the four variables. World Bank and World Development Indicator economic Meta data and published data by Central Bank of Kenya and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics were the source of data for this study. The study used Eviews version 10 for analyzing and presenting study findings. The study employed multivariate time series and panel data regression analysis. The model employed GDP as a measure of economic growth and external public debt, external private debt, and external debt service payment as its main independent variables. Results: The study found out that only the external private debt and the debt service payment showed bilateral causal relationship. External public debt and external private debt had a positive and significant effect on the GDP, indicating that external debt promotes economic growth in Kenya. The external debt service payment showed a negative and a significant effect on the GDP as well. The model explained 97% variability of the GDP as explained by the three independent variables combined. The 3% is attributed to other factors, not included in this study. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommends a more robust multivariate model to be employed to include more macro-economic variables to explain economic growth. A decade-to-decade comparison can also be done to compare the effects of the external debt on Kenyan economic growth in different time intervals. Fiscal and monetary policies should be reviewed to encourage more domestic and foreign investments and discourage external borrowing to fund budget deficits or projects with low or no returns.

This study explores how global economic policy uncertainty (EPU) shocks comove with stock returns (SR) of eight African countries—Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. The study employed daily data from December 2010 to December 2019 using wavelet coherence analysis. The results showed that global EPU comoves with most of the SR of African markets and was concentrated in the longer term, especially during the period between 2011 and 2019, although not substantially. The findings indicate that short-term investments in African stocks are less susceptible to global economic policy uncertainty. It is recommended that foreign investors could hedge agaist policy uncertainties by investing in stock listed in African Stock exchanges while appropriate country-level policies are deployed to manage long-term effect of EPU.

Purpose: The firms have been facing steep competition from foreign companies due to increased globalization. The aim of the study was to find out the influence of financial capabilities on competitiveness of food and beverage processing companies in Kenya. Methodology: The study was informed by resource based theory. Empirical studies were reviewed to provide the basis for research gaps to be filled by the current study. Descriptive research design was employed while the target population was the 187 food and beverage processing firms in Kenya. A census was used where all the 187 companies were contacted. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain the primary data which was analyzed through mixed method analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis. Inferential statistics were used to analyze the relationship between variables through the regression model. The findings were presented in form of tables, pie-charts and bar-graphs. Results: The companies however mainly relied on bank deposits as the source of funding for their operations. Financial capabilities significantly and positively influence the competitiveness of the food and beverage processing firms. The bank deposits, cash holdings and stock holdings create the financial muscle of the firms by ensuring that they are able to obtain adequate and high quality production inputs thus contributing to the companies’ success. The correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive and significant association between Financial capabilities and firm competitiveness (r = 0.698, p = 0.000). Regression of coefficients results revealed that Financial capabilities and firm competitiveness are positively and significantly related (β =0.638, p=0.000). Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The firms ought to seek adequate financial capabilities as a way of effectively financing their operations to gain competitiveness. The companies should embrace accountability and proper investments that increase their bank deposits, cash holdings and stock holdings through which they can sustain their operations towards competitiveness. The companies should embrace accountability and proper investments that increase their bank deposits, cash holdings and stock holdings through which they can sustain their operations towards competitiveness.

Competitive and productive Special Economic Zones (SEZs)/ industrial Parks (IPs) of the future will be those that will abandon the wasteful linear development model and instead embrace a circular economy that is characterized with the circular flow of materials and energy. Doing this will not only lower pressure on the use of the country’s virgin raw materials but also contribute to the reduced carbon footprint of the SEZs/IPs by helping to divert wastes from the landfill. This paper investigated the spontaneous evolution of waste and by-product exchange at the agro-processing and garment clusters of the Athi River SEZ. These cluster based material exchanges evolved on their own largely as a result of the prevailing forces of material supply and demand. Though at its infancy, this emergency of industrial symbiosis at the economic zone has helped to demonstrate the social inclusion dimension of green growth through the creation of decent green jobs. The practice has also enabled participating firms to reduce their GHG emissions and lower their operational costs. The economic zone’s desire to fully embrace waste recovery, reuse and recycling as part of its deliberate efforts of advancing the ideals of a circular economy is currently being hampered by a lack of functional waste recovery, reuse, and recycling infrastructure. The proposed strengthening of University-Industry-Government (U-I-G) collaboration at the Athi River SEZ, will help promote eco-innovation that forms the cornerstone of the economic zone’s improved productivity and competitiveness. The paper sought to unravel the enabling policy interventions that need to be put in place so as to accelerate the transformation of the country’s economic zones into environmentally friendly Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) capable of attracting green foreign direct investments (FDIs). It also tackled the barriers that need to be overcome by key stakeholders so that the country’s SEZs/ IPs can adopt a development trajectory that enjoys low-emission levels, efficiently uses its resources, and is socially inclusive through the creation of decent green jobs.

Kenya’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows as a percentage of GDP have been increasing negligibly over the last 4 years, increasing from 0.4 per cent in 2010 to 0.9 per cent in 2013. And yet evidence shows that quality infrastructure lowers the cost of doing business and thus attracts FDI. Kenya has visible signs of infrastructure inadequacy and inefficiencies despite the fact that since the year 2000, there has been increased budgetary allocation to the infrastructure sector. This study, therefore, sought to determine the effects of transport, energy, communication and water and waste infrastructure development on FDI inflows in Kenya. The study used annual time series data sourced from Central Bank of Kenya, World Bank and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Using multiple regression analysis, it was established that improved transport infrastructure, communication infrastructure, water and waste infrastructure, exchange rate, economic growth and trade openness are important determinants of FDI inflows into Kenya. Hence, for Kenya to attract more FDI, continued infrastructural development is key since quality infrastructure affords investors a conducive investment climate in which to operate.

Several studies have been conducted to examine the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow on economic growth. Indeed, the overall evidence is best characterized as mixed. This paper investigates the effect of FDI on economic growth in some randomly selected African economies from 1980 to 2013, using a modified growth model by Agrawal and Khan (2011). This model consists of Gross Domestic Product, Human Capital, International Technology Transfer, Labor Force, FDI and Gross Capital Formation (GCF). Ordinary least squares and generalized method of moments were used as the estimation techniques. Of all the results, only Gross Capital Formation, Human Capital, and International Technology Transfer in the Central African Republic were found not to have any statistically significant influence on economic growth. In general, the impact of FDI on economic growth in African countries is limited or negligible. Consequently, this study observes that a 1% increase in FDI would result in a 0.12% increase in GDP for South Africa, a 0.05% increase in Egypt, a 0.03% increase in Nigeria, a 0.02% increase in Kenya, and a 1% increase in GDP in the Central African Republic. The findings also reveal that South Africa’s growth is more affected by FDI than the other four countries. The study also provides possible reasons behind South Africa’s great show of FDI and the lessons other African countries could learn from South Africa better utilization of FDI. This study integrates the related drivers of the effectiveness and success of FDI

Does the increase in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Kenya portend doom for human rights in the country? The prominent narrative has been that FDI undermines human rights in host states, especially those in the developing world. This narrative is countered by claims that there exists a mutually affirming relationship between FDI and human rights. Proponents of this view posit that FDI facilitates the diffusion of human rights norms and correlates with the improved rule of law in host states. They also point to emerging human rights jurisprudence in international investment arbitration as evidence of a reciprocal relationship between FDI and human rights. In light of these arguments, this paper analyses the extent to which such a reciprocal relationship bears out between Chinese FDI and human rights in Kenya. It will be demonstrated that given the lack of a framework for human rights accountability for corporations at the international level, the restrictive treatment of human rights in international investment arbitration tribunals and weak institutional capacity in host states, a positive overlap between FDI and human rights is hardly a panacea for human rights protection in Kenya. Therefore, a synergy of legal measures and non-legal measures provide a pragmatic approach to insulate human rights from violations that may be associated with Chinese FDIs.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate corporate internet reporting (CIR) by Kenyan and Tanzanian listed companies and whether the level of CIR is related to corporate governance structures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect data over a four-year period from companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the Dar es Salaam Securities Exchange. Panel data models (random effects) are used for the analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that the level of CIR in both countries is high, but the highest in Kenya. The authors find that CIR increases with foreign ownership, audit committee independence and financial expertise but decreases with domestic ownership concentration. They also show that the effects of ownership concentration are moderated by country-specific factors. Overall, the results demonstrate that effective governance structures may lead to higher levels CIR in sub-Saharan Africans.Originality/valueThis study extends, as well as contributes to the existing literature by the examining the corporate governance-disclosure nexus relating to CIR in sub-Saharan Africa. These findings have policy implications for African countries looking to attract foreign investment.

The global economic crisis affected most of developed economies in North America and Europe which was likely to trigger a trickle-down effects on Sub-Saharan Africa. This effect was characterized by falling exports demand, foreign capital inflows in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign aid inflows and remittances from African immigrants working in the ICs. This paper investigated the effects of economic crisis on FDI and the foreign aid inflows in four countries which include Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. Panel data was used for analysis with OLS, Random Effects and Maximum Likelihood Estimation from 1990-2010 was conducted. The results show that contrary to the expectation that economic crisis had negative effects on FDI inflows in SSA it was the other way round. Economic crisis has a positive impact on FDI inflows. This maybe because of natural resource oriented FDIs in Mozambique and Botswana and low integration in world markets for Kenya and Malawi (Most FDI are primary resource base such as agriculture).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into a number of African countries for the period 2003-2012. Design/methodology/approach – A series of panel data models are used to estimate the determinants of Chinese OFDI into eight African countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt and the Sudan. Findings – Results highlighted that Chinese investment in African countries is driven by access to natural resources, and factors related to infrastructure quality and the regulatory environment enforced by host governments. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers to identify empirical determinants of Chinese OFDI in Africa and it contributes from two perspectives. Firstly, it identifies drivers behind Chinese OFDI, but also importantly from the African perspective helps understand the reasons that attract investment from one of the world’s largest investors into one of the world’s poorest regions, given the emphasis that is placed on foreign direct investment today as an instrument of growth and development.

This paper focuses on investigating the moderating role of business environment on the relationship between FDI and the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Little information is documented on the role of business environment on the relationship between FDI and the performance of firms. The study population comprised of 100 companies registered with KAM as at the time of data collection in 2019, with 10 percent or more foreign ownership. The research used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data. To analyze data, descriptive and inferential statistics was used. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant moderating effect on the relationship between FDI and firm performance. This implies that an incremental change in the interaction between FDI and business environment would generate growth in company’s performance. In Kenya and other SubSahara African countries, the government needs to come up with polices geared towards improving their business environment to spur the growth of the key sectors of the economy.

Kenya has for many years enjoyed a reputation for political stability, democratic institutions, lack of corruption, and economic growth, unlike a number of other countries in Africa. The Government has sought to emphasise this image in order to retain and attract foreign investment and aid, and to maintain a booming tourist industry. But for some time a corrosion of the rule of law has been taking place behind the facade of legitimacy, a process so accelerated during 1990 and 1991 that many people have questioned the validity of Kenya's reputation.

Most discussions about development in the periphery during the 1950s to the 1980s tended to fall into two main camps. Those in the so-called ‘dependency school’ maintained that indigenous bourgeoisies, unlike their metropolitan counterparts, could not lead the accumulation and transformation process while in junior partnership with foreign capital, which entrenched a system that transferred resources to metropolitan economies through, for example, the repatriation of profits, loyalty payments, and other licencing schemes. In other words, ‘real’ capitalism in the periphery was improbable, if not impossible. On the other hand, orthodox Marxists, liberal scholars, and, subsequently, ‘modified’ dependentistas, held that foreign investments in the periphery need not forestall the emergence of transforming social forces, and that development was likely to be accelerated if/when some elements of the domestic bourgeoisie participated in joint ventures with international capital.

With large crude oil consumers and investors like China, France, the USA, the UK, and Italy being the biggest victims of the COVID-19, it is clear that the pandemic will have further ramifications on the foreign direct investment in nascent energy resource-rich countries. This chapter conducts a case study of Kenya and Tanzania, two countries harboring ports that are the gateway of the East African region to larger markets such as Asia and Europe. Tanzania was still negotiating an agreement with gas companies to construct its LNG infrastructure; while Kenya was finalising its environmental assessments for upstream and midstream and planning to reach a final investment decision in 2020. Both country's plans have been altered due to the pandemic, and stakeholders have to innovate on how best to engage in the sector and protect it from such uncertain shocks. This paper is an insight into the current situation and how the drivers of energy law can facilitate legal frameworks to absorb such uncertain events in the future.

Alternative investment schemes are one of financial intermediaries through which funds are pooled<br />together for the purpose of investment in various financial assets which are normally managed by<br />professional managers. One such avenue in Kenya is investing through a unit trust fund. It is therefore<br />important for an investor utilizing one of these managers to evaluate how well the fund has done relative<br />to other funds and that of the benchmark. However, these performances were affected by numerous<br />factors. It was on the above footing that the research is focused on evaluating the importance of key<br />factors that affect its performance. The research employed descriptive research design mainly cross<br />sectional and longitudinal research to achieve the objectives. The target population was all the eleven<br />unit trust funds in Kenya. The study used both primary and secondary data. As a source of primary data,<br />structured questionnaires and scheduled interview were used. The key factors were analyzed using factor<br />analysis and multiple regressions to establish the importance of these factors in determining funds’<br />performance. The finding was that the factors that affect performance of funds in Kenya were classified<br />into five categories namely foreign investment participation, online trading, experience, age and equity<br />risk. The main factors affecting equity funds performance were experience, age and online trading only<br />while none of these factors were significant in influencing the blended funds’ performance. The<br />prospective investors must therefore be mindful about these factors while weighing their investment<br />proposals.

Financial intermediaries continue to play a big role in the internationalization of capital markets. In Kenya all transactions in the Nairobi Securities Exchange must be carried out by an authorized stock broker. This study covered the stockbrokers and their role in the internationalization of capital markets within Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey. Population of interest comprised of 19 stockbrokerage firms licensed to operate at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The study findings indicate that stock brokers contribute to the internationalization of capital markets through their roles in facilitating cross-listing, offshoring and foreign investor by aiding in sourcing for investment opportunities, provision of relevant information and transaction facilitation. Study findings further reveals that the government issues, lack of awareness and knowledge on innovative strategies, adequate financial resources, availability of adequate infrastructure and trading costs affects stock brokers role in the internationalization of capital markets. The study recommends that the government and policy makers should direct efforts towards addressing the various bottlenecks that hinder the effectiveness of the stock brokers in the internationalization of capital markets in Kenya. Further, towards realizing efficiency and effectiveness these firms need to embrace technology and innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the variables that influence venture capital supply in Sub-Sahara Africa. The study developed econometric models and examined a 10-year period (2006 to 2015) pertaining to eight (8) Sub-Sahara African countries namely: Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. The empirical model includes six determinants (initial public offering, market capitalisation, unemployment rate, foreign direct investment inflow, inflation rate and trade openness). Secondary data was utilised for the study. The primary sources of data were the World Bank Development indicators and Preqin data base. All the statistical analyses in the study were performed using E-views version 8. Panel data models of pooled, fixed and random effects were employed. The results suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between initial public offering, market capitalisation and venture capital supply. Second, there is no significant relationship between unemployment rate, foreign direct investment inflows, trade openness and venture capital supply. Based on the empirical findings, this study recommends that Sub-Sahara African governments should attempt to develop their economies by improving infrastructure and corporate governance. There is also a need for African countries to develop the equity market.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the variables that influence venture capital supply in Sub-Sahara Africa. The study developed econometric models and examined a 10-year period (2006 to 2015) pertaining to eight (8) Sub-Sahara African countries namely: Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. The empirical model includes six determinants (initial public offering, market capitalisation, unemployment rate, foreign direct investment inflow, inflation rate and trade openness). Secondary data was utilised for the study. The primary sources of data were the World Bank Development indicators and Preqin data base. All the statistical analyses in the study were performed using E-views version 8. Panel data models of pooled, fixed and random effects were employed. The results suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between initial public offering, market capitalisation and venture capital supply. Second, there is no significant relationship between unemployment rate, foreign direct investment inflows, trade openness and venture capital supply. Based on the empirical findings, this study recommends that Sub-Sahara African governments should attempt to develop their economies by improving infrastructure and corporate governance. There is also a need for African countries to develop the equity market.

This article examines the cultural dimensions of financial credit and debt, placing these against a deeper and broader background of entrustments and obligations. A standard response of the largest international aid agencies to African rural poverty has been to set up programmes to lend money and other resources to rural people without understanding what the borrowers already owe to other creditors and claimants, or how strong these competing claims are. The history of credit programmes has been a history of dismal failures and of disappointments for borrowers and lender alike, particularly where land mortgages have been involved. Intensive field research reveals that Luo farmers in Kenya, like other East Africans, already have a broad assortment of borrowings and lendings of their own, some far more meaningful to them than loans from banks, co-operatives, or marketing boards will ever be. Some are only partly economic in nature; some involve sacred trusts or important political contacts. Land, labour, animals, money, and humans themselves are all objects of entrustment and obligation among kin, neighbours, or other familiars. Farmers channel resources from socially distant institutions into uses that are often locally more meaningful than those their lenders intend; and they may not be at liberty to convert them back into liquid forms for repayment. Requirements of land title collateral misfit a cultural context where attachments to land, and to ancestral graves on it, symbolise an individual's or family's social identity. More broadly, the credit strategy of development aid needs rethinking. Rather than continuing to enmesh rural Africans in debts and uncertainties, those who purport to help reduce poverty in rural Africa should shift their strategy from lending to encouraging saving and investment, or to promoting other kinds of locally rooted initiatives not financial in nature.

Purpose – The study aims to seeks to ascertain the impact of corporate disclosure on foreign equity ownership. Corporate disclosures are important to for stock markets because it is an activity that mitigates information differences between company insiders and outsiders. Design/methodology/approach – Corporate disclosures assume an even greater important when company outsiders are not domiciled in the same country as the company and the company insiders. In this study, the relation between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosures using data on Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria is examined. Findings – The consistent results in this study are that foreign share ownership is positively related to firm size. A negative relation, however, between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosure is found, but this turns out to be related to disclosures about ownership, while disclosures on financial reporting and board management have a positive and insignificant statistical relation taking into account unobserved country, time and firm effects. Further analysis shows that corporate disclosures are very persistent and negatively related to lag foreign share ownership. No consistent statistical relation is found between disclosure and market-to-book values as a proxy for investment opportunities. It is recommended to African-listed firms to pursue adoption of high-quality financial reporting standards and to increase their reporting on board management. The study also recommends that the African Government weighs the benefits of detailed ownership disclosures. Originality/value – The study utilises frontier market data to complement existing literature on how corporate disclosure and transparency influences foreign investors decision to invest in Africa.

Purpose: The key objective of this research was to establish the relationship, if any, between education/training and the performance of small enterprises in Gikomba market.Methodology:This study adopted descriptive and regression analysis design and the target population for this study are the owners/managers of small business enterprises in Gikomba market, Nairobi. A sample of 68 respondents will be selected. Probability sampling was used whereby stratified random sampling will be grouped into two or more relevant strata. This study used both primary and secondary data collected using questionnaires and secondary data collection data guide. Primary data was collected for all variables for a period of 3 years (2010 to 2012). Data analysis was used using both descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Descriptive statistics will include; frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Data analysis output was presented using graphs and tables. Inferential statistics will include regression and ANOVA tests.Results:The results indicate that Education greatly influences the financial and non-financial factors in the SMEs sector. However the level of education is not the key factor to SME’s existence and success. If the business management training education is well implemented, all the small enterprise traders at Gikomba open air market should be in position to breakeven and also to manage their business performance as expected.Policy recommendation: The study recommends that policy makers should adopt the findings of this study. According to the results, exchange rates, public debt and interest rates were the significant determinant of market capitalisation of listed companies in Kenya during the study period. Macroeconomic variables should be factored when formulating policies on market capitalisation. This study recommended that, since the Kenyan stock market is not really exposed to the negative effects of currency volatility, government can use exchange rate as a policy tool to attract foreign portfolio investment.

In 2010 the Government of Kenya promulgated a new Constitution, articulating a devolved-system of Government entailing a National Government and County Governments. As a key pillar to the constitution of Kenya, devolution seeks to bring governance closer to the people. Kenyans are therefore looking at the county governments to derive the required change in the country. However, fundamental challenges have continued to dog the Counties including irregular or delayed disbursement of devolved funds from the national Exchequer; low revenue collection levels from local sources; weak and uncoordinated planning and execution among others. This has led to several stalled projects; indebtedness to suppliers; inadequate capacity at the county level to effectively and efficiently perform the devolved functions; inadequate financial resources among others. Although there are opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment and capital inflow; Public-Private Partnerships; Grants; Exchange programs; and wider markets for the local products, that the Counties need to explore and pursue, most of them are not in a position to sustain themselves. The purpose of this paper is to review the Institutional and Legal frameworks as provided by the Constitution of Kenya using the business sustainability model of the seven Ps (i.e. Preparation, People, Processes, Preservation, Place, Product and Production). It is hoped that the paper will form a conceptual framework to inform future county Government’s strategic decisions in order to utilize grants from development partners for the improvement of their citizens welfare. Further the paper will inform policy makers and development partners on fundamental areas that may need to be looked at in order to ensure effective utilization of available resources.

Purpose: Aviation sector in Kenya facilitates both international and domestic trade, promotes tourism and foreign investment thus contributing to government revenue and employment opportunities. Therefore, improving airport infrastructure would help reduce travel time, improve connectivity. The high rates of project failure have become a major concern for stakeholders hence the need to identify key factors that promote project success or failure. This study seeks to assess the critical success factor influencing the performance of construction projects in Kenya.Methodology: The study adopted quantitative method to examine critical success factors for the performance of aviation construction projects in Kenya. Descriptive case study research design was adopted and self –administered questionnaires were used to collect quantitative for analysis. The variables of interest include timely financing project activities, competency of contractors, participation of stakeholders, and management skills. Descriptive analysis and inferential tests were conducted with the aid of IBM SPSS version 23 software.Results: The study found that timely financing, contractor competency, stakeholder participation, and management skills have positive and significant influence on the performance of aviation construction projects. Descriptive results suggest that tractors competency, timely financing, management skills, and stakeholders’ participation have a strong positive influence on project performance. The study has also established a significant contribution of contractor competency to the successful performance of aviation construction projects. It was also noted that participation of key stakeholders in projects identification, decision making, and resource mobilization can enhance the success of aviation construction projects. It was observed that these factors account for over 54.9% of changes in project performance.Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: In light of these results, the study recommends industry players to put measures in place that would allow timely provisions of finance for all project activities. It is also important to source for competent and experienced contractors, engage key stakeholders in decision making about the project, and recruit a competent and skilled project manager. The study results have a significant contribution to practitioners in the aviation construction sector in Kenya. The study provides the practitioner with the most critical variables likely to influence the performance of aviation construction projects. It further acknowledges that external factors also influence the success of these projects. In light of this, the practitioners can institute contingency plans to mitigate the risks to ensure successful completion of their projects. To the academic, the current study has filled literature gap on critical success factors for aviation project performance. Given the upcoming mega project in aviation sector around the world, these factors provide the basis for future research in this area to ensure these projects are executed successfully within budget and schedule

Across all the countries, the balance of trade has remained a key indicator of economic activities as it shows a country’s level of competitiveness in the world market. Economists are divided on whether a persistent trade deficit is good or bad for a developing country like Kenya. Contrary to most of the similar previous studies, this study included trade in services as well as some of the key factors affecting trade balance such as inflation and transfer payments and sought to establish the nature and strength of their connection with the trade deficit in Kenya as well as their respective impulse responses. This study adapted a reduced form of the balance of trade model by hypothesizing that balance of trade is a function of FDI, inflation, real exchange rate and transfer payments. The study embraced an ex post facto correlational research design to gauge the elements and earnestness of synergy between the variables and used time series data obtained from the World Bank ranging from the year 1978 up to the year 2014 with annual frequency. This study also employed use of descriptive statistics, Cointegration, Vector Error Correction Model, Granger causality, impulse response function tests as well as a range of other diagnostics tests. This study concluded that in the long-run, only inflation and transfer payments have positive and negative significant effects respectively on both trade deficit and also foreign direct investments through there is no respective causality. This study also established that trade deficit has positive significant short-run effects on transfer payments while real exchange rate has positive significant short-run effects on inflation though there is also no respective causality. This study found that any shocks need to be addressed within the shortest possible timeframe as the impulse response functions indicate the effects being adverse within the first few years as effects only begin to die out from the fourth year. The study therefore concluded that trade deficit is not really bad for Kenya as measures that should reduce it actually reduces foreign direct investments which are really important for a growing economy like Kenya.

This paper investigates the effect of FDI on performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Little is documented about the link between FDI variables of capital flow, advanced production technology, marketing expertise and management know-how and performance of firms. The study’s sought to establish the effect of each individual FDI variables on firm’s performance. It also sought to established the overall effect of the performance manufacturing firms in Kenya. The population of study comprised 100 companies registered with Kenya Association Manufacturing as at the time of data collection in 2019 and that had over 10 percent foreign ownership. The respondents were the CEOs of organization. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were both used to analyze the data. Data was pretested for normality, linearity, multicollinearity, autocorrelation and homoscedasticity and the data found to meet most of these preconditions. The Pearson correlation analysis was employed to discern not only the strength but also the direction of the interrelationships involving the variables. The researcher tested the effect of the components of FDI on performance of manufacturing firms. The study developed one hypothesis and four sub hypothesis. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between FDI and firm performance. This imply that to achieve better firm performance, the government need to come up with policies geared to attracting more FDI into the key sectors of the economy. Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment, Firm Performance, Capital Flow, Advanced Production Technology, Marketing Expertise, Management Knowhow.

In some recent investment arbitration cases, tribunals have been presented with facts that suggest that foreign investors and public officials in the host state have engaged in corrupt practices. In its analysis of the extension of the anti-corruption campaign to investment arbitration, this article examines the legal measures adopted to combat corruption before investor-state arbitral tribunals in light of a study of World Duty Free Co. Ltd. v. The Republic of Kenya. An examination of the background to the World Duty Free v. Kenya dispute, the broader circumstances that surrounded the dispute, and Kenya’s political climate that was not within the tribunal’s purview, demonstrate that investment arbitration tribunals are not sufficiently equipped to exhaustively tackle corruption. Given the intricate political and public nature of corruption, responses to foreign investment-related corruption also have to be multi-faceted.

The international community has long been aware of the intersection between domestic corruption and foreign direct investment. As such, corruption is not infrequently (but at the same time, not frequently) a presence in international investment arbitration. Save in rare circumstances (see e.g. World Duty Free Company Limited v Republic of Kenya and Metal-Tech Ltd v Uzbekistan) it is not raised overtly – but instead exercises a tenebrous influence on proceedings that is difficult to quantify precisely. This article is a review essay of the first systematic attempt to chart this influence across every investment arbitration case in which corruption issues have been relevant, Aloysius P. Llamzon’s Corruption in International Investment Arbitration.

This study investigated the effect of stock market development on economic development in developing economies which include Nigeria, South Africa, Angola and Kenya using time panel data between the periods 1986 to 2018. The study employed panel co-integration test, panel regression and granger causality test. We measure stock market development using all share index, market capitalization, foreign portfolio investment and total volume traded while human development index is used as a proxy for economic development. Findings reveal that stock market activities in most African countries have not significantly impacted their economic development except for few African countries which had adequate market regulations. We further find evidence to assert that activities in South African stock market significantly promote economic development in their nation when compared to other countries under investigation. Although the Nigerian stock market activities are also significant in contributing to the economic development process, but in a negative manner while Angola performs less to Nigeria and finally, Kenya stock market activities do not significantly promote economic development in their nation. As such, we recommended that adequate regulation should be implemented introduced as this will help in ascertaining a stable stock market and thereby encouraging the foreign participant to operate in the market.

While in the last one two decades, Kenya has witnessed increasing levels of public borrowing, both domestic and foreign, economic growth has slowed down and the performance of the securities market has been subdued with falling stock prices. This has prompted stock investors to review and/or realign their investment portfolios. While the inflation rate has been drastically fluctuating, public debt – which is strongly inflationary – has had an exponential increase of about 461 percent between 2008 and 2018. Although Kenya’s level of public debt is approaching unsustainable levels, massive borrowing still continues. Using secondary monthly data obtained from government and securities market databases, this paper analyzed whether public debt moderates the relationship between inflation rate and securities market returns at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Time series multiple linear regression results show that whereas inflation rate has a statistically significant negative effect on securities market returns, public debt had an insignificant negative effect on securities market returns. More importantly, public debt does not statistically affect the relationship between inflation rate and the securities market in Kenya. Putting in place strategies aimed at reducing inflation as well as public debt can however have the effect of improving securities market performance.

Background: Obesity and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NR-NCDs) are increasing throughout Africa, driven by urbanisation and changing food environments. Policy action has been limited - and influenced by high income countries. Socio-economic/political environments of African food systems must be considered in order to understand what policy might work to prevent NR-NCDs, for whom, and under what circumstances. Methods: A realist synthesis of five policy areas to support healthier food consumption in urban Africa: regulating trade/foreign investment; regulating health/nutrition claims/labels; setting composition standards for processed foods; restricting unhealthy food marketing; and school food policy. We drew upon Ghana and Kenya to contextualise the evidence base. Programme theories were generated by stakeholders in Ghana/Kenya. A two-stage search interrogated MEDLINE, Web of Science and Scopus. Programme theories were tested and refined to produce a synthesised model. Results: The five policies operate through complex, inter-connected pathways moderated by global-, national- and local contexts. Consumers and the food environment interact to enable/disable food accessibility, affordability and availability. Consumer relationships with each other and retailers are important contextual influences, along with political/ economic interests, stakeholder alliances and globalized trade. Coherent laws/regulatory frameworks and government capacities are fundamental across all policies. The increasing importance of convenience is shaped by demographic and sociocultural drivers. Awareness of healthy diets mediates food consumption through comprehension, education, literacy and beliefs. Contextualised data (especially food composition data) and inter-sectoral collaboration are critical to policy implementation. Conclusion: Evidence indicates that coherent action across the five policy areas could positively influence the healthiness of food environments and consumption in urban Africa. However, drivers of (un)healthy food environments and consumption reflect the complex interplay of socio-economic and political drivers acting at diverse geographical levels. Stakeholders at local, national, and global levels have important, yet differing, roles to play in ensuring healthy food environments and consumption in urban Africa.

“Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them [...] life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” (Garcia Marquez 165) Introduction The refugee experience is, at heart, one of rebirth. Just as becoming a new, distinctive being—biological birth—necessarily involves the physical separation of mother and infant, so becoming a refugee entails separation from a "mother country." This mother country may or may not be a recognised nation state; the point is that the refugee transitions from physical connectedness to separation, from insider to outsider, from endemic to alien. Like babies, refugees may have little control over the timing and conditions of their expulsion. Successful resettlement requires not one rebirth but multiple rebirths—resettlement is a lifelong process (Layton)—which in turn require hope, imagination, and energy. In rebirthing themselves over and over again, people who have fled or been forced from their homelands become both mother and child. They do not go through this rebirthing alone. A range of agencies and individuals may be there to assist, including immigration officials, settlement services, schools and teachers, employment agencies and employers, English as a Second Language (ESL) resources and instructors, health-care providers, counsellors, diasporic networks, neighbours, church groups, and other community organisations. The nature, intensity, and duration of these “midwives’” interventions—and when they occur and in what combinations—vary hugely from place to place and from person to person, but there is clear evidence that post-migration experiences have a significant impact on settlement outcomes (Fozdar and Hartley). This paper draws on qualitative research I did in 2012 in a regional town in New South Wales to illuminate some of the ways in which settlement aides ease, or impede, refugees’ rebirth as fully recognised and participating Australians. I begin by considering what it means to be resilient before tracing some of the dimensions of the resettlement process. In doing so, I draw on data from interviews and focus groups with former refugees, service providers, and other residents of the town I shall call Easthaven. First, though, a word about Easthaven. As is the case in many rural and regional parts of Australia, Easthaven’s population is strongly dominated by Anglo Celtic and Saxon ancestries: 2011 Census data show that more than 80 per cent of residents were born in Australia (compared with a national figure of 69.8 per cent) and about 90 per cent speak only English at home (76.8 per cent). Almost twice as many people identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander as the national figure of 2.5 per cent (Australian Bureau of Statistics). For several years Easthaven has been an official “Refugee Welcome Zone”, welcoming hundreds of refugees from diverse countries in Africa and the Middle East as well as from Myanmar. This reflects the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s drive to settle a fifth of Australia’s 13,750 humanitarian entrants a year directly in regional areas. In Easthaven’s schools—which is where I focused my research—almost all of the ESL students are from refugee backgrounds. Defining Resilience Much of the research on human resilience is grounded in psychology, with a capacity to “bounce back” from adverse experiences cited in many definitions of resilience (e.g. American Psychological Association). Bouncing back implies a relatively quick process, and a return to a state or form similar to that which existed before the encounter with adversity. Yet resilience often requires sustained effort and significant changes in identity. As Jerome Rugaruza, a former UNHCR refugee, says of his journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Australia: All the steps begin in the burning village: you run with nothing to eat, no clothes. You just go. Then you get to the refugee camp […] You have a little bread and you thank god you are safe. Then after a few years in the camp, you think about a future for your children. You arrive in Australia and then you learn a new language, you learn to drive. There are so many steps and not everyone can do it. (Milsom) Not everyone can do it, but a large majority do. Research by Graeme Hugo, for example, shows that although humanitarian settlers in Australia face substantial barriers to employment and initially have much higher unemployment rates than other immigrants, for most nationality groups this difference has disappeared by the second generation: “This is consistent with the sacrifice (or investment) of the first generation and the efforts extended to attain higher levels of education and English proficiency, thereby reducing the barriers over time.” (Hugo 35). Ingrid Poulson writes that “resilience is not just about bouncing. Bouncing […] is only a reaction. Resilience is about rising—you rise above it, you rise to the occasion, you rise to the challenge. Rising is an active choice” (47; my emphasis) I see resilience as involving mental and physical grit, coupled with creativity, aspiration and, crucially, agency. Dimensions of Resettlement To return to the story of 41-year-old Jerome Rugaruza, as related in a recent newspaper article: He [Mr Rugaruza] describes the experience of being a newly arrived refugee as being like that of a newborn baby. “You need special care; you have to learn to speak [English], eat the different food, create relationships, connections”. (Milsom) This is a key dimension of resettlement: the adult becomes like an infant again, shifting from someone who knows how things work and how to get by to someone who is likely to be, for a while, dependent on others for even the most basic things—communication, food, shelter, clothing, and social contact. The “special care” that most refugee arrivals need initially (and sometimes for a long time) often results in their being seen as deficient—in knowledge, skills, dispositions, and capacities as well as material goods (Keddie; Uptin, Wright and Harwood). As Fozdar and Hartley note: “The tendency to use a deficit model in refugee resettlement devalues people and reinforces the view of the mainstream population that refugees are a liability” (27). Yet unlike newborns, humanitarian settlers come to their new countries with rich social networks and extensive histories of experience and learning—resources that are in fact vital to their rebirth. Sisay (all names are pseudonyms), a year 11 student of Ethiopian heritage who was born in Kenya, told me with feeling: I had a life back in Africa [her emphasis]. It was good. Well, I would go back there if there’s no problems, which—is a fact. And I came here for a better life—yeah, I have a better life, there’s good health care, free school, and good environment and all that. But what’s that without friends? A fellow student, Celine, who came to Australia five years ago from Burundi via Uganda, told me in a focus group: Some teachers are really good but I think some other teachers could be a little bit more encouraging and understanding of what we’ve gone through, because [they] just look at you like “You’re year 11 now, you should know this” […] It’s really discouraging when [the teachers say] in front of the class, “Oh, you shouldn’t do this subject because you haven’t done this this this this” […] It’s like they’re on purpose to tell you “you don’t have what it takes; just give up and do something else.” As Uptin, Wright and Harwood note, “schools not only have the power to position who is included in schooling (in culture and pedagogy) but also have the power to determine whether there is room and appreciation for diversity” (126). Both Sisay and Celine were disheartened by the fact they felt some of their teachers, and many of their peers, had little interest in or understanding of their lives before they came to Australia. The teachers’ low expectations of refugee-background students (Keddie, Uptin, Wright and Harwood) contrasted with the students’ and their families’ high expectations of themselves (Brown, Miller and Mitchell; Harris and Marlowe). When I asked Sisay about her post-school ambitions, she said: “I have a good idea of my future […] write a documentary. And I’m working on it.” Celine’s response was: “I know I’m gonna do medicine, be a doctor.” A third girl, Lily, who came to Australia from Myanmar three years ago, told me she wanted to be an accountant and had studied accounting at the local TAFE last year. Joseph, a father of three who resettled from South Sudan seven years ago, stressed how important getting a job was to successful settlement: [But] you have to get a certificate first to get a job. Even the job of cleaning—when I came here I was told that somebody has to go to have training in cleaning, to use the different chemicals to clean the ground and all that. But that is just sweeping and cleaning with water—you don’t need the [higher-level] skills. Simple jobs like this, we are not able to get them. In regional Australia, employment opportunities tend to be limited (Fozdar and Hartley); the unemployment rate in Easthaven is twice the national average. Opportunities to study are also more limited than in urban centres, and would-be students are not always eligible for financial assistance to gain or upgrade qualifications. Even when people do have appropriate qualifications, work experience, and language proficiency, the colour of their skin may still mean they miss out on a job. Tilbury and Colic-Peisker have documented the various ways in which employers deflect responsibility for racial discrimination, including the “common” strategy (658) of arguing that while the employer or organisation is not prejudiced, they have to discriminate because of their clients’ needs or expectations. I heard this strategy deployed in an interview with a local businesswoman, Catriona: We were advertising for a new technician. And one of the African refugees came to us and he’d had a lot of IT experience. And this is awful, but we felt we couldn't give him the job, because we send our technicians into people's houses, and we knew that if a black African guy rocked up at someone’s house to try and fix their computer, they would not always be welcomed in all—look, it would not be something that [Easthaven] was ready for yet. Colic-Peisker and Tilbury (Refugees and Employment) note that while Australia has strict anti-discrimination legislation, this legislation may be of little use to the people who, because of the way they look and sound (skin colour, dress, accent), are most likely to face prejudice and discrimination. The researchers found that perceived discrimination in the labour market affected humanitarian settlers’ sense of satisfaction with their new lives far more than, for example, racist remarks, which were generally shrugged off; the students I interviewed spoke of racism as “expected,” but “quite rare.” Most of the people Colic-Peisker and Tilbury surveyed reported finding Australians “friendly and accepting” (33). Even if there is no active discrimination on the basis of skin colour in employment, education, or housing, or overt racism in social situations, visible difference can still affect a person’s sense of belonging, as Joseph recounts: I think of myself as Australian, but my colour doesn’t [laughs] […] Unfortunately many, many Australians are expecting that Australia is a country of Europeans … There is no need for somebody to ask “Where do you come from?” and “Do you find Australia here safe?” and “Do you enjoy it?” Those kind of questions doesn’t encourage that we are together. This highlights another dimension of resettlement: the journey from feeling “at home” to feeling “foreign” to, eventually, feeling at home again in the host country (Colic-Peisker and Tilbury, Refugees and Employment). In the case of visibly different settlers, however, this last stage may never be completed. Whether the questions asked of Joseph are well intentioned or not, their effect may be the same: they position him as a “forever foreigner” (Park). A further dimension of resettlement—one already touched on—is the degree to which humanitarian settlers actively manage their “rebirth,” and are allowed and encouraged to do so. A key factor will be their mastery of English, and Easthaven’s ESL teachers are thus pivotal in the resettlement process. There is little doubt that many of these teachers have gone to great lengths to help this cohort of students, not only in terms of language acquisition but also social inclusion. However, in some cases what is initially supportive can, with time, begin to undermine refugees’ maturity into independent citizens. Sharon, an ESL teacher at one of the schools, told me how she and her colleagues would give their refugee-background students lifts to social events: But then maybe three years down the track they have a car and their dad can drive, but they still won’t take them […] We arrive to pick them up and they’re not ready, or there’s five fantastic cars in the driveway, and you pick up the student and they say “My dad’s car’s much bigger and better than yours” [laughs]. So there’s an expectation that we’ll do stuff for them, but we’ve created that [my emphasis]. Other support services may have more complex interests in keeping refugee settlers dependent. The more clients an agency has, the more services it provides, and the longer clients stay on its books, the more lucrative the contract for the agency. Thus financial and employment imperatives promote competition rather than collaboration between service providers (Fozdar and Hartley; Sidhu and Taylor) and may encourage assumptions about what sorts of services different individuals and groups want and need. Colic-Peisker and Tilbury (“‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ Resettlement”) have developed a typology of resettlement styles—“achievers,” “consumers,” “endurers,” and “victims”—but stress that a person’s style, while influenced by personality and pre-migration factors, is also shaped by the institutions and individuals they come into contact with: “The structure of settlement and welfare services may produce a victim mentality, leaving members of refugee communities inert and unable to see themselves as agents of change” (76). The prevailing narrative of “the traumatised refugee” is a key aspect of this dynamic (Colic-Peisker and Tilbury, “‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ Resettlement”; Fozdar and Hartley; Keddie). Service providers may make assumptions about what humanitarian settlers have gone through before arriving in Australia, how they have been affected by their experiences, and what must be done to “fix” them. Norah, a long-time caseworker, told me: I think you get some [providers] who go, “How could you have gone through something like that and not suffered? There must be—you must have to talk about this stuff” […] Where some [refugees] just come with the [attitude] “We’re all born into a situation; that was my situation, but I’m here now and now my focus is this.” She cited failure to consider cultural sensitivities around mental illness and to recognise that stress and anxiety during early resettlement are normal (Tilbury) as other problems in the sector: [Newly arrived refugees] go through the “happy to be here” [phase] and now “hang on, I’ve thumped to the bottom and I’m missing my own foods and smells and cultures and experiences”. I think sometimes we’re just too quick to try and slot people into a box. One factor that appears to be vital in fostering and sustaining resilience is social connection. Norah said her clients were “very good on the mobile phone” and had links “everywhere,” including to family and friends in their countries of birth, transition countries, and other parts of Australia. A 2011 report for DIAC, Settlement Outcomes of New Arrivals, found that humanitarian entrants to Australia were significantly more likely to be members of cultural and/or religious groups than other categories of immigrants (Australian Survey Research). I found many examples of efforts to build both bonding and bridging capital (Putnam) in Easthaven, and I offer two examples below. Several people told me about a dinner-dance that had been held a few weeks before one of my visits. The event was organised by an African women’s group, which had been formed—with funding assistance—several years before. The dinner-dance was advertised in the local newspaper and attracted strong interest from a broad cross-section of Easthaveners. To Debbie, a counsellor, the response signified a “real turnaround” in community relations and was a big boon to the women’s sense of belonging. Erica, a teacher, told me about a cultural exchange day she had organised between her bush school—where almost all of the children are Anglo Australian—and ESL students from one of the town schools: At the start of the day, my kids were looking at [the refugee-background students] and they were scared, they were saying to me, "I feel scared." And we shoved them all into this tiny little room […] and they had no choice but to sit practically on top of each other. And by the end of the day, they were hugging each other and braiding their hair and jumping and playing together. Like Uptin, Wright and Harwood, I found that the refugee-background students placed great importance on the social aspects of school. Sisay, the girl I introduced earlier in this paper, said: “It’s just all about friendship and someone to be there for you […] We try to be friends with them [the non-refugee students] sometimes but sometimes it just seems they don’t want it.” Conclusion A 2012 report on refugee settlement services in NSW concludes that the state “is not meeting its responsibility to humanitarian entrants as well as it could” (Audit Office of New South Wales 2); moreover, humanitarian settlers in NSW are doing less well on indicators such as housing and health than humanitarian settlers in other states (3). Evaluating the effectiveness of formal refugee-centred programs was not part of my research and is beyond the scope of this paper. Rather, I have sought to reveal some of the ways in which the attitudes, assumptions, and everyday practices of service providers and members of the broader community impact on refugees' settlement experience. 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