This paper explores the energy landscape in rural and remote areas of Togo to better understand local energy needs, practices, and challenges, with the goal of identifying key factors for sustainable energy solutions. The study employs a mixed method approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. It engages a diverse range of community members—including farmers, fishermen, artisans, and others—across five rural communities, as well as other stakeholders with relevant expertise. Findings reveal that although these regions are rich in natural resources, the lack of reliable energy access hampers daily life and limits socio-economic development. The study recommends deploying renewable energy technologies to harness local assets and build capacity for improved irrigation, aquaculture, and community resource management. This will also address health and pollution concerns and create a cleaner environment, promote socio-economic progress, and enhance quality of life. This research highlights the potential of sustainable energy development as a catalyst for economic resilience and improved livelihoods in Togo’s underserved rural areas.

Since the nineteenth century, struggles between state power and political prisoners' right to die have aroused considerable interest. State enforcement to 'make live' through force-feeding also raises important questions concerning processes that inform government approaches, often through methods considered to be brutal, and how these actions fit within perceptions of civilised behaviour. The social scientific focus of hunger strikes tends to be informed by Foucauldian bio-power and governmentality which we draw upon when applying insights from figurational sociology. These insights allow us to better capture shifting social processes and changing public attitudes and behaviours that weaken state control over life and death. Different empirical examples are drawn upon, namely prison based forced feeding programmes that are directed at international 'Islamicists', Irish republicans and British suffragettes. Comparing groups' levels of integration within controlling states' societies, highlight distinctions in power balances, layers of mutual identification and entwined public perceptions and state reactions that help explain the implementation, cessation or continuation of force-feeding.

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling study has been presented to analyse the cooling impact of a geothermal cooling system based on the Earth-Air-Tunnel-Heat-Exchanger (EATHE) concept to provide passive cooling to heat-stressed vulnerable people in Homa Bay, Kenya. Like many places on earth, Homa Bay is experiencing extreme environmental heat. The novelty and significance of the present work lies in demonstrating the effectiveness of the technology for a field application using real-world data. Two different pipe arrangement designs, a straight pipe and a serpentine pipe, were investigated for their cooling effect. The inlet and boundary conditions were set using the air and ground surface temperature data available from the NASA Satellite for Homa Bay, Kenya. The simulation results show that the lower the air velocity the better the cooling effect and a 40 m long straight or serpentine pipe with a 0.1 m internal diameter and 1.0 m/s air velocity can provide a 3 degrees C cooling on the hottest days of the year. The performance difference between a straight pipe and a serpentine pipe is negligible, and owing to the lower space requirements, a serpentine design is recommended.

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasian perspective, we argue for a more processual concept of legitimisation to encompass the dynamic social networks (figurations) that constitute the more unintentional context for deliberate legitimation claims. As networks expand and intensify, processes of legitimisation incorporate changing and more diverse bases for legitimacy claims, as well as a greater variety of such claims and counterclaims. As the power relations between contending groups change, legitimation practices become part of the integrating functions of the state, shaping figurations and the social habitus.

This study examines how residents of Kibera, an multi-ethnic informal settlement and opposition stronghold in Nairobi, Kenya, understood and negotiated political instability in the run up to, and during, the contested elections of 2017. Much of the scholarship on election violence has been gender-blind, ignoring the ways in which gender roles shape the experiences but also the nature of conflict. When women's experiences during conflict and war are considered, it is typically in relation to sexual violence. By contrast, our study examines women's gendered experiences of political instability across multiple dimensions, employing the structural framework of gender relations developed by Connell and Pearse (2014) that distinguishes power, production, emotional attachments, and symbolism. Data were produced from multi-method qualitative fieldwork under-taken shortly after the 2017 elections. We find that participants' experiences of deeply patriarchal structures, threats of sexual violence and the brutality of policing in Kibera coexisted with contestations of gendered power relations through mitigation strategies and some women's activism. Political instability moreover impacted women's labour and increased their already great obligations in terms of paid and unpaid work by generating additional responsibilities to cope with conflict and violence and to keep children safe. A dominant discourse of women as peacebuilders is shown to contribute to many women's senses of increased responsibility for peace itself during periods of political instability and serves to obscure their differences and that their gender roles might contribute to ethnic conflict. By examining how political instability in an informal settlement is experi-enced and negotiated across multiple dimensions of gender relations, this article contributes to the feminist literature on peace and conflict, and specifically to recent analyses of gender and electoral violence.

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational–emotional balances generated by different and intertwined tiers of social integration partly shaped the organization of political hunger strikes. Political hunger strikes are interesting because they tend to involve actions based on rational considerations and emotional charges. The empirical context includes a comparative analysis across space and time involving the organization of political hunger strikes in Ireland and (West) Germany during the 20th century. Our analysis suggests a difference between the rational–emotional tension balance exhibited by hunger strikers of the 1920s and that of hunger strikers of the 1970s and 1980s. We explain how these differences are connected to the broader social structures pertaining at the time. The main contention of the paper is that all forms of political organizing involve rational–emotional balances, and these balances are structured and shaped by social dynamics at different tiers of social integration.

Empowerment is an often used concept and the work of Paulo Freire has helped to define the application and outcomes of approaches. The researchers visited Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, during periods of political activity which had previously resulted in violence. Community members identified strategies employed in an attempt to curtail heightened risk. These factors were analysed to evaluate whether empowerment, as espoused by Freire, was still relevant in community development work. Empowerment strategies were multi-faceted and highlighted that they had created new issues for the community to address, suggesting strategy and outcomes need to be strong considerations in future work.

Similar to most developing countries, Togo continues to rely on the use of traditional forms of biomass energy which causes tremendous socio-economic, environmental, and health hazards. In addition, the imbalanced distribution and use of electricity, petroleum, and liquid gas reflect the disproportion in income and quality of life. This paper plans to highlight the development that renewable energy had in the past decade and the challenges facing the Togolese government, using a framework approach that will best address them. Framework approaches such as PESTEL and SWOT analyses are utilized to access both the internal and external factors in relation to renewable energy development and its impact on Togo. This will provide a better understanding of the sustainability issues facing Togo and provide solutions on the best methods that will lead to greater impact and development. The result shows that renewable energy development in Togo has improved in the past decade and had some impact on socio-economic development. However, better development will be achieved if approaches are introduced to provide a long-term solution to the high capital costs of the technologies, institutional sustainability is incorporated, the number of trained personnel/technical expertise is increased and the Government engagement with funding bodies to secure funds that will favor off-grid and poorest communities is increased. There is also a need to include local participation in the design and operation of projects and introduce a cross-subsidization tariff scheme that covers the operation and maintenance costs of off-grid solar PV users that will favor poor households. Finally, liberalization of the energy sector is needed as well as the government's support to help private investment in rural electrification via Build-Own-Operate arrangements.

During periods of heavily contested elections, accompanying political tensions are often most prevalent within informal settlements. Consequently, the prolonged political tensions experienced in Kenya during 2017 were expected to have the most adverse impact in KiberaKibera, NairobiNairobi, the largest informal settlement in East AfricaAfrica. Fears about what could happen in KiberaKibera were also informed by recent history, most notably in 2008, when many people were killed in the post-election conflict. Moreover, the marginalisationMarginalisation residents experienced in 2008 largely remain today. Differences between this urban area and the surrounding golf course and middle-class residential-gated enclaves are immediately apparent. Nevertheless, despite these deep-rooted issues and differences, the extent of the violence was considerably less than in 2008. The primary focus is understanding why relative peace prevailed in very challenging conditions. The analysis is based on research incorporating photovoice, focus groups and interviews with residents in early 2018. Photographs taken by participants framed the themes explored in greater depth through focus groups and interviews. A preliminary study of resilience also informed fieldwork in 2017. The research discovered that residents’ attachment to KiberaKibera and collective sense of identification and cohesion contributed to weaker, more permeable barriers between potentially competing political supporters. A range of community-based initiatives, such as pacification messages and peace activities, partly created this greater sense of interconnections. Together, they contributed to deeper senses of self-control and broader forms of social control that restricted the potential for political tensions to descend into inter-ethnic violence.

The Togolese government plans to achieve 100% electrification to all by 2030, to meet the Millennium goals. The Delphi method is used with the experts drawn from policymakers, academic institutions, financial institutions, non-governmental institutions, and private companies. and the results show that raising the renewable energy business share in Togo through accelerated access to small-scale solar photovoltaics and hydropower is the most feasible route for electrification. The monopoly, non-liberalization of the energy sector, and the lack of a trained workforce were identified as the main inhibitors for private investment. The study recommends the optimization of the system for better performance and the creation of local manufacturing plants to promote the national production of solar system components along the assembly lines.

Informal settlements have been identified as locations both where the spread of COVID-19 has generally been slower than within the Global North and measures to restrain the pandemic have further intensified local peoples’ marginality as income decreases without welfare or financial safety nets. In this paper, qualitative fieldwork is detailed which commenced in Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, immediately prior to national COVID-19 restrictions. This March 2020, pre-COVID phase of the fieldwork focused on a community-based project and the basis for resilience in transforming local lives. During the next 12 months of the pandemic fieldwork continued, exploring experiences and reactions to restraining policies. These findings reinforce concerns about the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions on marginalised peoples’ income, food security, health, safety and gender-based violence. How the local people reacted to these effects highlights their creative resilience and adaptability. The paper concludes by examining the impact of, and responses to, the controlling measures on the social relationships and cohesion that underpins the community resilience.

Recent years have witnessed a growth in international Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related activities. Analysis of these programmes has tended to focus upon intent and scale of ambition. Despite growing emphasis on stakeholder engagement corporate approaches are continuing to originate from northern hemisphere derived ethics, governance and standards that are being uncritically applied in the global south. By applying insights from postcolonial studies, this paper argues that CSR approaches are both reproducing colonial approaches and northern hemisphere sponsored development programmes that followed independence. Consequently, CSR programmes are based upon Northern hemisphere knowledge and are reinforcing power differentials within and between regions. The chapter concludes by tentatively proposing how to re-position CSR out of the post-colonial trajectory and towards the delivery of more sustainable improvements. To do so will require the more philanthropic approach of companies operating in the southern hemisphere (Amaeshi et al., Corporate social responsibility in Nigeria: Western mimicry or indigenous influences? 2006; Frynas, International Affairs, 81:581–598; Kuhn et al., Business and Society 54:1–44, 2015) to become more engaging, strategic and sustainable.

Over recent years, resilient attitudes and behaviour are widely seen within the Global North to be potential solutions to community developmental challenges. Although greater international emphasis is being placed on 'bottom up' approaches, learning from existing levels of resilience among communities such as residents in informal settlements has aroused limited attention. Instead analysis of informal settlements tends to concentrate on the multitude of environmental, economic and social problems that many communities share and internationally derived normative solutions. To help address this relative neglect, research was designed that sought more information about local experiences, people and processes that have been instrumental in building levels of resilience that help overcome challenges and improve well-being. Using the photovoice methodological technique, a project was developed to capture experiences of participants in Kibera, Nairobi. Participants were young people and either role models or had the potential to be. In so doing the project was participant driven, learning from residents about who and what have been influential in the development and maintenance of resilience. The results highlighted the particular significance of social cohesion and, in particular, relationships and attachment to place.

This paper explores the maintenance of livelihoods under climate, environmental, and economic development pressures, through the case of Thang Binh District in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Within widespread recognition of the need to link sustainable livelihoods approaches with climate change adaptation, there is growing awareness of the importance of people-centered approaches which keep the diverse experience, capabilities, and knowledges of the most vulnerable at the heart of sustainable livelihoods thinking. In response, this paper explores the conditions for changes in modes of livelihoods in a case study area where top-down strategies for sustainable livelihoods are met with residents' diverse experiences of vulnerability, and where climate and environmental changes shape residents' relations with the landscape. The research is undertaken via interviews with residents, farmers/fishers, and local government officials. Our study finds that whilst government-led initiatives for sustainable livelihoods are welcomed in the locality, inflexible policies can make it challenging for the most vulnerable people to access support. Moreover, residents see the capacity to live with and respond to extreme weather events as a critical component of maintaining a sustainable livelihood. Our findings reinforce international literature, showing that 'the poor' are not a homogenous category, and illustrate the importance of attention to the smallest levels of government who are tasked with putting sustainable livelihoods initiatives into practice in relation to people's daily lives.

This paper explores the need for an appropriate energy delivery, placing emphasis on the role of the indigenous people in developing their future needs. The case study is based on Togo renewable energy sustainability and employs qualitative and quantitative research to achieve the result. The study stems from the fact that Togo like most African countries has a lot of natural resources such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power required to implement a nationwide sustainable energy system. Yet only 27% of Togolese have access to electricity. The research incorporates critical elements such as the identification of local energy needs, the use of low-cost, effective, and locally made appropriate technologies, and the encouragement of capacity building. The study results show the strong will to develop renewable energy technologies however key barriers are due to inadequate framework regulations that governs the energy sector; lack of policies and strategies that encourages the use of feasible technologies and the lack of capacity development. The results findings will be discussed in details and conclusions drawn in this work presentation.