Rural Africa Weekly Report: Top Five Trends
Every week, Rural Reporters curates a report on development in rural Africa and its environs. The reports include are some of our top picks of recent must-read research, interviews, reports, blogs and in-depth articles to help you keep on top of global crises. Here are some of the updates you ma have missed from the previous week.
From Dark Continent to Solar Paradise
The euphemism Dark Continent, used to refer to Africa, unflattering as it may be, is often-times spot-on.
Much of Africa is pitch-dark day and night. The darkness that prevails in the equatorial jungle is excusable. I’m concerned with dark homes, towns and even cities once the sun goes down and powerlessness come the next day, thanks to the lack of energy. A flight by plane or in space over Africa is a totally different experience from one over Europe, America or Australia.
Dispatch from #FFD3: Investing in Rural People for Inclusive and Sustainable Transformation
The State of Food Insecurity 2015 report shows that undernourishment in the developing world is falling by about one percentage point every three years. At this rate, in 2030 the world will still have 720 million undernourished people, or 7.9 percent of its population. This is business as usual.
Energy Poverty, Household Poverty and Human Rights
Energy poverty leads to household poverty. This is because those who consume less energy tend to be poorer than those who consume more energy. And, poverty leads to the consumption of less energy. So, it is a two-dimensional relationship. Energy poverty causes household poverty. And household poverty reinforces energy poverty. Energy poverty is measured by per capita wattage. Measuring energy poverty in terms of per capita wattage shows that although Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a frontline economy in Africa in terms of Per Capita income, it is one of the poorest in terms of the consumption of electricity, as measured in wattage. We are poorer in energy terms than our less endowed neighbours like Ghana and the Benin Republic.
The relationship between energy poverty and household poverty has a nexus, perhaps, because poverty is the major challenge of human rights in Africa today.
Mobile Schools Acclimatise To Educate Girls in Rural Kenya
At 16 years of age, Nagirasia Lengima is already a mother of two. But parenthood doesn’t stop her from indulging in her latest passion: school.
Like a growing number of girls from nomadic communities in northern Kenya, Lengima is defying cultural prejudices – and climate pressures – by getting an education at a mobile school.
Run by non-profit groups, the schools bring learning to girls whose families are forced to move around the region to survive.
Higher Education In Africa: Our Continent Needs Science, Not Aid
The continent of Africa suffers a crippling disease burden, which continues to choke economic growth in addition to causing high morbidity and mortality. It is therefore vital for Africans to contribute to finding solutions to their health problems. The discovery and development of new medicines inAfrica led by Africans is essential to that.
Long-term sustainable provision of new affordable medicines in Africa can only be ensured through committed investments in research and development (R&D) through African-led local and international public-private partnerships so that risks, and not just benefits, are shared. Africa needs science, not aid.
