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:
Government promises electrification of all Tanzania islands
The government through the ministry of energy has come up with a strategy that will enable electrification of all islands in the country through renewable energy. This was revealed by the deputy minister, Ms Subira Mgalu, at the weekend during her tour of Mafia where she inspected implementation of some power projects.
Speaking with Mafia residents at different areas, the minister assured them that the government was committed to providing them with sustainable energy, especially solar power, in an effort to boost industrial activities in all islands.
Rural Electrification Authority to construct transmission lines
The government of Kenya has received a credit from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) toward the cost of the Kenya Electricity Expansion Project. The government intends to apply part of the proceeds of this credit for procurement of materials for implementation of grid based Rural Electrification Schemes implemented by the Rural Electrification Authority under the project.
Rural Electrification Authority now invites sealed bids from eligible and qualified bidders for construction of 33kV and 11kV lines in 3 lots: Lot 1 – Turkana region, Lot 2- Mandera region and Lot 3- Laikipia and Samburu regions.
Nigeria’s digital growth reliant on rural connectivity
Efforts to deepen digital growth in Nigeria will not yield positive result until the rural areas in the country are digitally connected, President of Nigeria Computer Society, Prof. Sola Aderounmu has said. This came with the realisation that the digital gap between the urban and rural communities in the country is getting wider, as investments in digital infrastructure are being concentrated in cities.
“The opportunities technology create for employment generation, efficient and accountable governance, wealth-creation and social development, cannot be underestimated,” he said.
Expert Calls for Agro-industralised Nigerian Economy
A senior lawyer, Mr Paul Usoro has called on the government at all levels and individuals to embark on deliberate measures to migrate from dependency on crude oil production to full scale agricultural practice as a way out of economic depression.
Presenting a paper titled, ‘Migrating from Crude Oil Dependency to an Agro/Industralised Economy as a way out of Depression,’ at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Calabar Branch Law Week recently, he stated that “an agro-industralised economy remains key to the attainment of a sustainable and well-developed economy in Nigeria.”
TV White-Spaces – A Game Changer for Rural Internet Rollout
By finally publishing regulations on the use of Television White Spaces (TVWS), South Africa’s Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has paved the way for two significant turning points in the country’s rollout of Internet access to its citizens.
The first is the provision of much cheaper broadband networks that offer Internet connectivity to currently underserviced areas – both semi-urban and rural. The second is the potential development of an entirely new, entrepreneurial-flavoured industry to install and manage those networks, creating greater choice for consumers.
This is why global AIDS interventions fail
Dionne in this article shows the nuanced, contextual, local factors that affect this broader phenomenon. Dionne examines social structures in rural Malawi — where 80 percent of that country’s population lives — and reveals the importance of village headmen among the many actors in the global HIV/AIDS crisis supply chain. Yes, combating HIV/AIDS does and must involve community health workers, local religious leaders and congregations, and community-based organizations. But as Dionne shows, village leaders are integral local agents, shaping priorities, directing resources and serving as a key link between citizens in the community and all the others.
Using rich qualitative subnational data, Dionne demonstrates that village headmen have taken on new roles in response to the AIDS epidemic, such as promoting HIV testing and identifying AIDS orphans to benefit from external donors’ relief programs. Critically, we learn that village leaders do accurately represent their villagers when they negotiate with outsiders bearing resources. This suggests that village headmen may be the most effective agents to partner with in undertaking large-scale projects to improve the human condition.
Ghana Needs To Amend Its Constitution – U.S Ambassador
Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, has said in the past that: “We are committed to our manifesto promise of electing MMDCEs, we are committed to the process. Definitely, it involves a lot of processes and we specifically stated that we would elect MMDCEs within a two-year framework and we are committed to the process.
“The Constitutional Review Commission was not entirely against this process; it provided that there should be direct election for the metropolitan assemblies and a different kind for municipal, whereas for the district assembly the status should remain. That was the recommendation, so it is not entirely against it.”