Rwanda Music Video Clips

AFRICA, AFRICA COUNTRIES, Media Africa, Music Africa, Performing Arts Africa, Rwanda 2 Responses »
Sep 022010

I’ve just found a website, www.musicvideos.the-real-africa.com which has pages devoted to Africa music with a drop down list for African countries. It looks like a good site to explore!

I though I’d have a look at Rwandan music as it is an African country whose music I am not familiar with and I wanted to find some positive news about Rwanda. There’s a good selection in the music videos the real africa Rwanda section .

One of the tracks I liked was Byumvuhore played by Ben Ngabo. You can hear it here: Byomvuhore.

On the right of the page you can find links to Rwandan artists, blogs, some dance videos, and some links to articles about Rwandan music and Rwanda. You’ll also find some more information at the Wikipedia article for Rwandan music,  ISARO.RW which is a Rwandan music site. National Geographic also have a webpage about Rwandan music with some clips to play.

You may also be interested in INYARWANDA web radio for Rwandan popular music. (Thanks to @negrita)

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Posted by SL at 9:43 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Protecting African Folklore and Traditional Knowledge

AFRICA, AFRICA COUNTRIES, CULTURE AFRICA No Responses »
Sep 012010

Home of a traditional healer, Mombasa, Kenya

[Photo credit: make_change]

Protecting Africa Intellectual Property Rights

The following press release from the UN News Agency is interesting.

UN AGENCY HAILS MOVE TO PROTECT AFRICAN FOLKLORE AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

New York, Aug 31 2010  5:05PM

The United Nations agency charged with protecting intellectual property worldwide has welcomed the adoption by a number of African States of a new legal instrument that seeks to protect the continent’s traditional knowledge and folklore.

The instrument, adopted earlier this month in Swakopmund, Namibia, by member states of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), is designed to preserve and protect the use of Africa’s diverse knowledge systems and cultures for the continent’s sustainable development.

It will enter into force following ratification by six ARIPO member states.

Francis Gurry, Director General of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) welcomed the adoption of the Swakopmund Protocol on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore as “an historic step for ARIPO’s 17 member states, and a significant milestone in the evolution of intellectual property.”

Developed by African experts over a six-year period, the Swakopmund Protocol is a response to the misappropriation and misuse of the continent’s traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.

It was developed in coordination with a similar instrument prepared over the same period by the 16 West African countries comprising the Organization Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI), and adopted in July 2007.

WIPO provided support to both organizations in the process of developing those instruments.  Mr. Gurry said that WIPO was also ready to respond to requests from ARIPO and OAPI member states for support in the development of national laws for the protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.

Meanwhile, WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore is working towards the development of a legal instrument for the effective protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions that would be international in scope.

Following a productive intersessional working group meeting last month, that Committee will meet again in December to continue its work.

More information

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

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African Cultural Renaissance Campaign (2010 – 2012)

AFRICA, AFRICA COUNTRIES, CULTURE AFRICA No Responses »
Aug 312010

Unity Drum and Dance Ghana

[Photo credit: oneVillage Initiative]

African Cultural Renaissance Campaign (2010 – 2012): Strategy for implementation – “Promoting together the African Cultural Renaissance”

According to this document produced by the AU Commission, the aim of the Campaign for African Cultural Renaissance is to promote Pan Africanism, cultural renewal and identity as forming part of the shared values in the Continent.

The specific objectives of the Campaign are to:

  • Ensure that African cultural values including African languages are promoted to maximum effect in order to reinforce a sense of identity among Africans.
  • Promote the ratification of the Charter of the African Cultural Renaissance to ensure its entry into force.
  • Popularize, and promote the effective implementation of the Charter at all levels of society through various activities that will:

Activities foreseen in the strategy for the for the Campaign (2010-2012) include the following main activities

  • Formal Launching (during the celebrations of Africa Day on 25th May 2010 in Accra, Ghana as well as at the third Conference of African Ministers of Culture (Abuja, October 2010).
  • Production of Advocacy and IEC materials
  • Development of a Practical Guide on the Implementation of the Charter
  • two competitions: a) an essay competition on Pan-Africanism for Young Africans; and b)  acompetition for the production of video clips showing traditional dances and or other artistic expressions and their important role in promoting Pan-Africanism.
  • Promotion of African languages through a) Advocacy for the need to implement the Language Plan of Action of Africa (LPAA) and to formalize national language policies; b) the organisation of the first meetings of the Governing Board and the Assembly of Academicians of ACALAN; c) Develop a specific Pan-African Programme of Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MLE)in some countries.
  • Meetings including a) an expert meeting to develop the practical guide and to assess progress/ monitoring and evaluation of the Campaign; b) The 3rd Session of the AU Conference of Ministers of Culture and c) the Third Pan-African Cultural Congress will mark the end of the Campaign in 2012 and will provide an opportunity to assess the impact of the Campaign.
  • An exhibition and a catalogue on the African Cultural Renaissance and the Spirit of Pan-Africanism
  • Focusing national cultural festivals during the Campaign on the popularization of the Charter and and the promotion of the African Cultural Renaissance.

Via OCPA News no 258,

read the full version of OCPA News in PDF format at www.ocpanet.org/activities/newsletter/2010/OCPA_News_No258_20100812.pdf,

and in Word format at www.ocpanet.org/activities/newsletter/2010/OCPA_News_No258_20100812.doc.

How to get a copy

Download a Word file of the African Cultural Renaissance Campaign document

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Posted by SL at 11:38 am Tagged with: , , ,

Africa Culture Kenya, Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference, Sept 2010

AFRICA, Arts and Crafts Africa, CULTURE AFRICA, Kenya, Music Africa, Performing Arts Africa No Responses »
Aug 312010

Nairobi Kenya

[Photo credit: ActionPixs (Maruko)]

Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference (Nairobi, Kenya, 18 – 26 September)

The Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference will feature: A seven day showcase of performances, presentations, workshops, displays and demonstrations of music, theater, dance, storytelling, food, films, traditional medicines and crafts at various venues in Dandora, Kibera, Kawangware (slum areas which all experienced terrible consequence of the last post election chaos where by neighbours turned against each other, killed and or destroying each others property) and in the Nairobi city centre

The Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference has invited and engaged the participation of young people, women, families, elders and men from Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa and around the World to come together and celebrate their shared history, their diverse identities and their common futures.

More information

Web site: http://thedrumcafe.viviti.com/

Contact: drumcafe2010@gmail.com

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Posted by SL at 11:12 am Tagged with: , , , ,

Africa paper: South Africa and China - the agricultural and fisheries trading relationship

AFRICA, AFRICA COUNTRIES, ECONOMY AFRICA, EDUCATION AFRICA, Papers & Reports Africa, Politics Africa, South Africa 1 Response »
Aug 212010

Hout Bay, South Africa

[Photo credit: Corvair Owner]

South Africa and China – the agricultural and fisheries trading relationship

About the paper

South Africa and China: the Agricultural and Fisheries Trading Relationship, Sandrey,R.; Fundira,T., Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (2008)

A feature of world trade over the last ten years has been the dramatic growth of China’s trade with the world. This paper examines the agricultural component of Chinese trade with South Africa, which it aims to place in broader perspective of China’s global trading relationships.

The authors note that during the first six months of 2007 agricultural imports were 3.8 percent of total Chinese imports, a figure down from the 6.6 percent during the last six months of 1996. By value, total agricultural imports were US$ 16,459 million during this six-month period, up from US$ 5,030 million in the final six months of 1996. By product, the main imports were soybeans (USA and Brazil), cotton (USA and India) and palm oil (Malaysia and Indonesia).

The paper examines Chinese global agricultural imports and and then moves sequentially through imports from the following countries and regions: South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, India, USA, The EU, ASEAN.

The report details the aggregate position for each of these sources, followed by an analysis of the top 15 agricultural products (and then the top-ten fisheries products). For the individual sources, a common template is used whereby data is presented for the first year (ending September 1996) and the last two September years along with their most favoured nation (MFN) (i.e., non tariff rated quota or TRQ) tariff rates, market shares, variability of the imports and the main competitors and their market shares.

(adapted on ELDIS)

How to get a copy

Download a pdf of South Africa and China: the Agricultural and Fisheries Trading Relationship

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Posted by SL at 10:02 am Tagged with: , , , , ,

Africa Report : Child Ability and Household Human Capital Investment Decisions in Burkina Faso

AFRICA, Burkina Faso, ECONOMY AFRICA, EDUCATION AFRICA No Responses »
Aug 202010

School, Burkina Faso

[Photo credit: much ado about nothing]

About the paper

Child Ability and Household Human Capital Investment Decisions in Burkina Faso, Richard Akresh, Emilie Bagby, Damien de Walque, and Harounan Kazianga, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5370 (July 2010)

Using data they collected in rural Burkina Faso, the authors examine how children’s cognitive abilities influence resource constrained households’ decisions to invest in their education. This paper uses a direct measure of child ability for all primary school-aged children, regardless of current school enrollment. The analysis explicitly incorporates direct measures of the ability of each child’’s siblings (both absolute and relative measures) to show how sibling rivalry exerts an impact on the parent’s’ decision of whether and how much to invest in their child’’s education. The findings indicate that children with one standard deviation higher own ability are 16 percent more likely to be currently enrolled, while having a higher ability sibling lowers current enrollment by 16 percent and having two higher ability siblings lowers enrollment by 30 percent. The results are robust to addressing the potential reverse causality of schooling influencing child ability measures and using alternative cognitive tests to measure ability.

Get a copy

http://www.worldbank.org/HH4FF8IBR0?cid=DEC_PolicyResearchEN_D_INT

More research papers

More research on Human Development and Public Services

All Policy Research Working Papers

DEC Development Research Group | Web: http://econ.worldbank.org/research | Email: research@worldbank.org

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Posted by SL at 1:19 pm Tagged with: , ,

Africa Paper : Application of ICTs in Nigerian Secondary Schools

AFRICA, Development Africa, EDUCATION AFRICA, Nigeria, TECHNOLOGY AFRICA 1 Response »
Aug 192010

Nigeria school computers

[Photo credit: Zunia.org]

About the paper

Application of ICTs in Nigerian Secondary Schools, in Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), Esharenana E. Adomi and Emperor Kpangbany, Delta State University, Nigeria (2010) published on DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska – Lincoln. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/345

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are electronic technologies used for information storage and retrieval. Development is partly determined by the ability to establish a synergistic interaction between technological innovation and human values. The rapid rate at which ICTs have evolved since the mid 20th century, the convergence and pervasiveness of ICTs, give them a strong role in development and globalization (Nwagwu, 2006). ICTs have a significant impact on all areas of human activity (Brakel and Chisenga, 2003). The field of education has been affected by ICTs, which have undoubtedly affected teaching, learning, and research (Yusuf, 2005). A great deal of research has proven the benefits to the quality of education (Al-Ansari, 2006). ICTs have the potential to accelerate, enrich, and deepen skills, to motivate and engage students, to help relate school experience to work practices, create economic viability for tomorrow’s workers, as well as strengthening teaching and helping schools change (Davis and Tearle, 1999; Lemke and Coughlin, 1998; cited by Yusuf, 2005).

In a rapidly changing world, basic education is essential for an individual be able to access and apply information. Such ability must find include ICTs in the global village. The Economic Commission for Africa has indicated that the ability to access and use information is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for development. Unfortunately, many developing counties, especially in Africa, are still low in ICT application and use (Aduwa-Ogiegbean and Iyamu, 2005).

This paper focuses on ICT application in Nigerian secondary schools. It particularly dwells on the importance of ICT and the causes of low levels of ICT application in Nigerian secondary schools. Recommendations for improvement are offered.

How to get a copy

Download a copy of Application of ICTs in Nigerian Secondary Schools

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Practical Financial Management for NGOs : Course Handbook

AFRICA, Development Africa, EDUCATION AFRICA, Training materials Africa 1 Response »
Aug 172010

Mango have updated their Guide to Financial Management for NGOs in 2010 which I hope you’ll find useful. You may want to register at their site and explore other materials and information too. They also run training courses throughout the year.

About the handbook

Practical Financial Management for NGOs, Lewis,T., Mango (2009)

NGOs operate in a rapidly changing and competitive world. If their organisations are to survive in this challenging environment, managers need to develop the necessary understanding and confidence to make full use of financial management tools. Financial management is a complicated task which many find daunting. This handbook provides step by step guides of the financial process providing tips, definitions, descriptions and examples for the following sections including all the activities which make up these units.

  • Financial management for NGOs- an introduction
  • Getting organised
  • Planning and budgets
  • Understanding accounts
  • Financial reports
  • Safeguarding your assets
  • Managing the audit

How to get a copy

Download the course handbook for practical Financial Management for NGOs from MANGO. (Available in English, Spanish, Arabic and Russion)

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Posted by SL at 10:04 pm Tagged with:

Conference : The past and its possibilities - perspectives of Southern Africa, June 2011

Conferences Africa, EDUCATION AFRICA, History Africa, South Africa 2 Responses »
Aug 112010

Conference announcement
Please circulate widely.

Southern African Historical Society
23rd Biennial Conference
27-29 June 2011
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

**THE PAST & ITS POSSIBILITIES: PERSPECTIVES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA**

Recent conferences have seen a renewed sense of intellectual and professional commitment to historical scholarship in and about
Southern Africa, with vigorous debates about the relevance of history and heritage, and of historians as public intellectuals and citizens of democratic countries.  The 23rd SAHS Biennial Conference – to be held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal between 27 and 29 June 2011 - will build this momentum, and the organisers invite papers and panels around the broad theme of ‘The Past and its Possibilities: Perspectives of Southern Africa.’

For from abalone, anger and archives through to xenophobia, zombies and zymurgy, the range of topics being researched by historians of Southern Africa is perhaps wider than ever before; and from the singing of revolutionary songs by politicians in the name of cultural history, to oral histories as an instrument of healing, to local histories in the service of grassroots politics and pay-to-order institutional histories, the utility of the past makes it of interest to many parties.  New technologies and globalization are also challenging us to rethink how research and publishing can be enabled. The possibilities of the past are thus being explored in multiple ways in the 21st century, with significant implications for historical perspectives of Southern Africa.

A Call for Papers will be circulated in September 2010.

Panels, papers, roundtables, discussions and commentaries may reflect on a broad range of perspectives and possibilities including:

  • Histories of:  any topic of history with an emphasis on new perspectives or former topics revisited.
  • Histories to and from: considerations of inter-generational, cross- regional, trans-national and global histories thought about and from Southern Africa
  • Histories to hurt or to heal:  How can studies of the past speak truth to power, or resist pandering to it?
  • The past and its publics, or “histories ‘to-go’”: in what ways is the past being commodified, ordered, contracted, and deployed for a variety of needs: public, nationalist, institutional, legal and commemorative?
  • Histories and historians lost and found: What questions about the past are being asked and which are not? What are taboo, neglected, unfashionable, and/or down-right dangerous historical perspectives and topics; what is current scholarship missing?
  • Mediating the Past: film, documentary, art, exhibitions, poetry, news media, and song all draw on and represent perspectives of the past: we encourage discussions and displays from scholars and practitioners in the media, art and cultural sectors who have an interest in the dialogue between past, present and future.
  • History’s know-how: new information and technological tools; archives in crisis or better opportunities for collaborative projects?

Confirmed keynote speakers: Antoinette Burton and Jacob Dlamini

Antoinette Burton of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has published widely on the histories of gender, empire, political
culture, world history, and archives.  Professor Burton was, with Jean Allman, co-editor of the Journal of Women’s History between 2004 and 2010, and is a Guggenheim Fellow 2010-2011.

Jacob Dlamini is the award winning author of Native Nostalgia (Jacana: 2009); columnist, and PhD student in History.

More information

Watch the SAHS website http://www.sahs.org.za

Enquiries to Julie Parle parlej@ukzn.ac.za

Julie Parle
Associate Professor
Email: parlej@ukzn.ac.za

Posted by SL at 5:00 pm Tagged with: , ,

Africa Paper: Accra 2008 - the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture

AFRICA, AFRICA COUNTRIES, Agriculture Africa, ECONOMY AFRICA, EDUCATION AFRICA, ENVIRONMENT AFRICA, Papers & Reports Africa 1 Response »
Aug 102010

Working in the field. Ghana. Photo: © Curt Carnemark / World Bank

[Photo credit: World Bank Photo Collection]

About the paper

Accra 2008 – the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture, Cabral,L. ,Overseas Development Institute [ES] (2008)

The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was reviewed at the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra in September 2008. The Paris Declaration established operating principles for donors and recipient governments to improve the effectiveness of aid. In the agricultural sector development cooperation struggled to comply with the Paris principles. This short paper sets out areas requiring focused attention in the run-up to Accra 2008.

The following issues are raised:

  • the bulk of the activity in agriculture takes place within the private sector
  • the dominance of space and sheer diversity of agricultural production systems require context-tailored solutions
  • ownership, alignment and harmonisation considered from an agricultural perspective.

The author highlights how the Accra Forum will provide an opportunity to rethink the adequacy of the current aid effectiveness framework. In relation to agriculture, this paper suggests that there are gaps to fill, biases to correct and outstanding challenges to discuss in Accra. These include:

  • moving beyond the present focus on governments and public expenditure
  • redefining and strengthening coordination
  • addressing the challenge of donor division of labour and synchronised complementarity of interventions.

How to get a copy

Download a pdf copy of Accra 2008 – the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture

Suggested books

Other Africa development books

Posted by SL at 8:00 pm Tagged with: , , , , , ,
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