Rural connectivity fund, Mining Industries and Other Reports

Every week, RuralReporters.com collate reports on development issues in rural Africa and its environs.

This report includes some of our top picks from recent must-read research, interviews, blogs, and in-depth articles, carefully selected to help you keep up with global issues.

Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week:

GSMA opens applications for rural connectivity fund

The GSMA has launched a new Innovation Fund for Rural Connectivity, aimed at expanding digital inclusion through innovative new technology solutions for connecting unserved rural communities.

The fund, backed by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by the GSMA, will provide grants up to GBP300,000 (US$390,000) and is open to eligible companies who can deploy solutions in Uganda or Ghana, in partnership with MTN Uganda and Vodafone Ghana respectively.

Funded projects will test innovative ways to deploy mobile broadband networks in rural areas, looking to demonstrate commercially sustainable models that can be scaled and replicated in similar environments.

South Africa: Goliath versus David – mining industry against rural communities

This analogy came to my mind as I listened to the delegates from mining-affected communities relaying their struggles during the recent pro-poor land reform conference held in Cape Town on 9-11 September. The conference was organised and hosted by the Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD). ARD is a coalition of rural communities and organisations that seeks “to amplify rural voices and defend rural citizens’ rights”.

In this article I first look at the root causes of these running battles between the rural folks and mining companies. Then I attempt to dispel the misguided argument that organisations such as ARD, Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) and Mining and Environmental Justice Community Network of South Africa (MEJCON-SA) and university institutes such as the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) are, by siding with the rural folks, irrefutably pursuing a rural populist agenda.

‘Establish agro-processing factories In rural areas’

Dr Gyeile Kwaku Nurah, Minister of State in-charge of Food & Agriculture, has called on the private sector to take advantage of government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative to establish agro-processing factories in rural areas of the country to add value to farm produce for export.

Dr Nurah, who gave the advice at the 8th Pre-harvest Agribusiness Conference and Exhibition, which took place at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale recently, also appealed to stakeholders in the agriculture value chain to support the transformation of agriculture and agribusiness into a more inclusive, equitable, climate-smart sector-oriented business to improve the lives of rural poor.

Bike to supply cheap energy to Kenya’s rural homes

As the world gears towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) of affordable and clean energy, three young Kenyans have invented and designed a multi-purpose solar-powered vehicle to supply cheap energy to Kenya’s rural homes and to ease transport as well.

Ignatius Maranga, 24, and Peter Mutai, 27, are graduates of electrical and electronics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Technical University of Mombasa respectively.

So, how does this bike work? “It is fitted with solar panels that charge batteries during daytime for propulsion. The stored energy is then used to provide light energy to homes at night. The batteries can go for a maximum of three days without having to recharge them,” Maranga explains.

In a daring expedition to test the vehicles’ adaptability to the harsh African roads, the team will from November embark on a two-month long-haul trip to South Africa, cycling for more than 6,000 kilometres to Cape Town.

In Kenya, free cash is the latest solution to poverty

According to the World Bank, over a third of Kenya’s nearly 50 million citizens live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day.

Molly’s village – which is not being identified in order not to stir envy or skew the study – is one of scores in the area chosen by the US charity Give Directly to test the universal basic income theory.

The region was selected because of its poverty, but also its stability and, crucially, the effectiveness of Kenya’s mobile money transfer system, M-Pesa, that allows the easy distribution of payments.

Founded in 2010 and working in six African countries, Give Directly sends money straight to the poor allowing them to choose their own priorities, rather than outsiders “deciding instead of them”, explains the non-profit’s spokeswoman Caroline Teti.

Namibia has fourth highest suicide rate in Africa…rated eleventh globally

Sagoe-Moses, in his statement said comparing estimates for 2000 with those of 2012, there was an increase of 38 percent in suicide rate in the African region.

He noted that suicide rates are particularly high among the elderly people but there is also a peak among the young. Stating that, “suicide by intentional pesticide ingestion is among the most common method of suicide globally and a particular concern in rural agricultural areas in the African region”.

More so, he said, the link between suicide and mental health was established, stating that depression, psychosis and substance abuse are contributing factors to suicide. He concurred that suicide behaviours may be an early warning that someone may be developing a mental illness. Therefore, he said, assessment and counselling is paramount for survivors of suicide.

Social impact investments to benefit rural communities

South African research, development and advisory company, Knowledge Pele (KP), has launched its first social impact investments to address key needs in township, peri-urban and rural communities: social infrastructure and industrial development.

Launched in the community of Touwsrivier in the Western Cape, the investments Include a 20kw off-grid rooftop solar system and a hydroponic farm, which qualify as impact investments as they deliver both social and financial returns.

According to the firm, the solar system powers the no-fee paying school, Touwsrivier Primary School and will deliver free, clean and reliable electricity to the school for at least 20 years. This will allow the school to redirect roughly R100,000 per annum away from electricity expenses towards core educational needs.