Rural Policing Strategy, electrification rate 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:

South Africa: Traditional Leadership Rural Policing Strategy to Be Piloted in Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner is delighted that her province was chosen to host a six month pilot of the Traditional leadership policing strategy. This was announced by the Police National Commissioner -General Khehla Sitole after a daylong work session at Zwelitsha in Eastern Cape.

Prince Burns Ncamashe outlined the purpose of the joint work session saying, “It’s a paradigm shift towards going back to the basics namely the African concept of policing known as Traditional leadership policing.”

The household electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world

More Africans than ever before have electricity but there are still 600 million on the continent without it. The household electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world, around 42% in 2016, and that’s despite the many programs providing access for 70 million people since 2014.

The World Bank sums up the key challenges for the region: It’s difficult to set electricity tariffs that can profitably cover the cost of delivery and the need for improved governance for national electrification plans in most countries.

It points out that technological advances in renewable options like solar are great for increasing access, particularly for rural consumers in lightly populated areas, but less so for industrial-size projects that create jobs.

Cape Town’s Crisis Draws Attention, But Worse Droughts Threaten Africa

While the South African city of Cape Town drew international attention when it warned it could run out of water this year, an international charity focused on global water supplies says “slow burning” droughts have wreaked even worse devastation in other parts of Africa.

Jonathan Farr leads work on water security for Water Aid, an organization that works to bring clean water to some of the world’s poorest communities, including in southern Africa.

But water security is threatened across Africa, and not just because of hotter, drier weather.

“Lots of people are moving from rural communities to cities. The cities aren’t ready for this huge influx of people, and so that’s increasing demand for water, but in a very small area,” he said. “So, it does mean there’s huge pressures on particular water basins. The authorities, even those who are reacting well, are dealing with a very serious problem.”

Mini Cassava Grater, A Rural Game Changer In Gari Processing

Cuts on fingers and waist pain are common among, gari makers, especially in rural areas. The cumbersome use of metal sheets with multiple holes made with nails to grate cassava takes people hours to mash a pan of cassava.

All that is set to end with the design and manufacture of energy efficient mini grater by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The grater is powered by 0.75 horsepower or 0.55 kilowatt motor. The mini cassava grater is helping people of over 30 rural communities.

“Now the women don’t complain of difficulties,” said Benjamin Tei Kwame, Assembly member for Adukrom.

Poverty, lack of jobs ‘drive millions to rural areas in Zim’

A new study by the Labour Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), has reportedly claimed that poverty and lack of jobs have driven millions of Zimbabweans out of urban centres to rural areas over the past 20 years.

According to Financial Gazette, LEDRIZ director, Godfrey Kanyenze said that at least 1.14 million people relocated from urban centres to rural areas between 1994 and 2014.

He said that most of those who left the cities for rural areas were women and children due to difficulties in affording the expensive city life.

Middle East, Africa seek India’s help to light up their villages

Impressed by India’s rural electrification drive, West Asian countries such as Jordan and Syria and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa have evinced interest in state-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) bringing electricity to their villages, said a person aware of the development.

This comes in the backdrop of electricity finally reaching all of India’s 597,464 census villages on 28 April, setting the stage for universal household electrification. REC, India’s largest power sector lender, is the nodal agency that executed the scheme.

Rural community development central to Africa’s industrialisation

Victor Oladokun’s grandfather was a cocoa farmer. His grandfather lived in a small village in Nigeria. “But all through his life, my grandfather never tasted a chocolate,” said African Development Bank (AfDB) Director of Communications Dr Victor Oladokun.

Many years later, the continent is still faced with the same challenges. Africa remains an exporter of raw materials and an importer of finished goods. He added that if his grandfather were to come back to life and go to this village, he would see that nothing had changed.

“If we are going to change Africa, we must first change the rural areas. We need to ensure rural areas become sustainable,” said Oladokun.