While the informal sector is the ‘forgotten’ sector in many ways, it provides livelihoods, employment and income for about 2.5 million workers and business owners. One in every six South Africans who work, work in the informal sector. Almost half of these work in firms with employees; these...

Many policy prescriptions emphasise poverty reduction through closer integration of poor people or areas with global markets. Global value chain (GVC) studies reveal how firms and farms in developing countries are upgraded by being integrated in global markets, but few explicitly document the...

This article aims to guide the design and implementation of action-research projects in value-chain analysis by presenting a strategic framework focused on small producers and trading and processing firms in developing countries. Its stepwise approach - building on the conceptual framework set...