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:
UN Hails China’s Rural Development Model that Reduces Poverty
The UN has hailed China’s rural development model that has reduced poverty as well as reversed rural urban migration.
Remy Sietchiping, head of the regional and metropolitan planning unit at UN-Habitat said the development in Songyang County in the southwest of Zhejiang province has transformed the rural area by adopting low cost innovations.
“The rural transformation model has indicated that villages can have a high standard of living,” Sietchiping said during the international guidelines on urban and territorial planning and health event at the first UN Habitat Assembly.
Opportunity International Drives Financial Literacy in Rural Communities
Savings and Loans Company, Opportunity International Savings and Loans (Opportunity International) has launched its community-based roadshow in Bono and Bono East Regions of Ghana.
The roadshow forms part of the company’s agenda to increase the participation and empowerment of women in the rural economies of Ghana in order to improve productivity, build assets, increase household income as well as better their nutrition, health, and education. Additionally, it is a community-wide financial literacy campaign aimed at providing clients with knowledge about financial services to help them make more informed choices.
Fully Autonomous Drones Deliver Healthcare in Rural Madagascar
Researchers from Western, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Stony Brook University (New York), and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute have led the first global test on the use drone technology to support healthcare in remote Madagascar.
The international team of health-care investigators spent the last two years testing the capacity of drones to pick up patient samples from more than 50 villages for delivery to medical facilities to be tested. The drones not only pick up but also deliver medication back to patients in instances where they have been diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) or other related ailments.
Burkina Faso: Tender for Rural Electrification Networks
The government of Burkina Faso has obtained funding from the World Bank and intends to use part of this funding to cover the related services; the establishment of an action plan for the installation (PAR) for the realisation of rural electrification networks in Burkina Faso.
This electrification along the 330 kV line concerns 154 to 179 rural locations and will be done by conventional 33 kV three-phase lines connected to networks existing in the vicinity (106 localities) or by 34.5 kV lines connected to the line guard cables.
Africa: World Bank Shooting for the Moon in Africa Poverty Fight
The World Bank is betting on digital transformation to rescue Africa from the throes of poverty.
The Bank plans to invest $25 billion (Sh2.5 trillion) that is likely to attract matching funds of a similar amount from the private sector. These resources will go into digital transformation between now and 2030 to fight poverty.
This new project christened African “digital moonshot”, seeks to re-design development in this age of disruption where everything is changing in line with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The big question is whether we (Africans) understand how to exploit this enormous act of generosity.
Botswana Lifts Ban on Elephant Hunting
Botswana has lifted a ban on elephant hunting that has been in place since 2014. The government said the growing conflict between humans and animals, and the destruction of crops, lead to the ban being lifted.
Botswana is home to the world’s largest population of elephants – with some 130,000 roaming the country. Critics of the ban believe it was causing problems for small farmers and others who benefited from hunting before the ban was imposed.