Every week, Rural Reporters collate reports on development in rural Africa and its environs. The reports included are some of our top picks of recent must-read research, interviews, reports, blogs and in-depth articles to help you keep up with global issues. Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week.
Corrupt Village Chiefs Provoke Disinterest In Rural Liberian Farmers
A corrupt village chief in rural Liberia has a crippling effect on investments made by the farming community. However, if such a chief is entirely honest then this is reflected in his villagers’ willingness to invest and desire to work. Relief programmes in Africa also benefit from anticorruption measures at a micro level, according to development economist Gonne Beekman in her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Local Institutions and Rural Development: Evidence from Liberia’. The research was funded by the NWO Conflict and Security programme.
Slum Dwellers Fight City Authority Over Forced Evictions
Slum dwellers predominantly from Old Fadama have criticized metropolitan authorities for pulling down people’s houses in a move to expel them without due respect for human rights provisions, engrained in both local and international laws.
The dwellers, categorized as urban poor, described the recent demolition exercise carried out by the Accra metropolitan assembly as counter-productive with negative social and economic costs weighing heavily on people’s livelihoods, health, and education.
Dan Wilcox gains an insight into village life in West Africa
“Obruni! Obruni!” I keep hearing the call as I walk along the main street in the village of Adowso, in Ghana, slowly, behind a taxi, which is going slower behind pedestrians.
There are hundreds of people filling the streets with stalls of all types. The noise is deafening as sellers call out to customers and taxi drivers and motorcycles beep. There are chickens on the pavement and pots of steaming chicken stew next to them. There’s a blaze of colour, with baskets full of tomatoes, yams, pineapple and corn, while stacks of dried fish add an unpleasant background smell.
This Urine Malaria Test Home-Kit Could Save Thousands Of Lives In Nigeria And Beyond
It appears the fight against malaria in Nigeria is set for a huge boost as the world’s first urine malaria test is set to debut. Created by Fyodor, a US based biotechnology firm founded by Nigerian Eddy Agbo, the urine malaria test provides point-of-need diagnosis of the Plasmodium parasite using dipstick technology as used with manual pregnancy tests. The urine malaria test is expected to be in pharmacies across Nigeria before the end of the year.
Young Tanzanian Entrepreneur Switches On Rural Areas With Solar Energy
In 2003, nine-year-old George Mtemahanji left his home in Ifakara, a small rural town in Tanzania’s Kilombero District, to move to Italy where his mother had managed to secure work. It was eight years before he was able to return to his birth town, and he was surprised to see it faced the same problems it had when he left. By 2013 Mtemahanji and his friend decided to launch a solar energy solutions company in Tanzania, specifically targeting rural areas. They started looking for financial partners and suppliers and came across a Swiss organization which wanted to build a photovoltaic plant (solar energy system) at a school in Ifakara. The duo offered to design and construct it for them for free, and was granted permission.