Category Archives: PAPERS and REPORTS
Report: The World in 2009, ICT Facts and Figures
You’ll find references to ICT in Africa throughout the report.
International Telecommunications Union’s report The World in 2009: ICT facts and figures points out that mobile technologies and broadband are making major inroads in developing countries. It argues that even though cellular technology is becoming widely popular, there are regional discrepancies in mobile broadband penetration. The report points out rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) in many parts of the world. The latest statistics indicate the growth in several areas, including use of mobile phones, broadband, televisions and computers. It states that mobile technology is the key driver to ICT growth with global mobile subscriptions expected to reach 4.6 billion by the end of the year. The broadband subscriptions are expected to top 600 million this year having overtaken fixed broadband subscribers in 2008. According to the statistics, more than a quarter of the world’s population is online and using the Internet, as of 2009.
(Source:ITU,2009)
How to get a copy
Download a PDF of The World in 2009, ICT Facts and Figures
Report : Language and Education – the missing link
A report from Save the Children/CfBT on Language and Education: The missing link (PDF) shows how the marginalisation of student’s first languages means that UN targets for education in developing countries are unlikely to be met.
The report, called Language and Education: the Missing Link, claims that failure to provide schooling in the language that children are most familiar with – the one that they speak at home – is a root cause of education failure, leading to children dropping out of school early and resources being wasted because rates of attainment are slowed.
This is an interesting boost to mother tongue education proponants who have long been saying the same thing. The report refers to the growing body of research which shows the benefits of investing in mother language provision. The main recommendation is to defer the learning of a second language – usually the ‘national’ language until upper primary school with the bulk of the curriculum being in a language the children know for the first years. This approach is called mother tongue-based multilingual education.
Key recommendations for education ministries and national education leaders from the report are:
- Establish a policy commitment to improving school language, based on an intention to progress towards evidence-based good practice.
- Make sure teachers understand that the more they help children use and develop their mother tongues, the better children are likely to do in educational performance, including second language skills.
- Emphasise that if transitions to a national or international language are unavoidable in the school cycle, this transition should be gradual.
- Prioritise parts of the country where national or foreign prestige languages are not extensively available in daily life, and where education outcomes are poor, for assistance to develop mother tongue based multilingual education approaches.
- Develop locally appropriate and flexible learning outcome targets for these regions.
- Where a large variety of local languages present challenges to teaching in everyone’s mother tongue, a common language may be necessary at first for delivering the majority
Household Water Resources and Rural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Household Water Resources and Rural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Evidence
S. Rosen; J.R. Vincent, Harvard Institute for International Development, Cambridge Mass., 1999
The benefits and costs of providing a safe, convenient, and reliable water supply to households in the developing world have been the subject of a vast and wide-ranging research effort for at least four decades. Despite the quantity of studies carried out, relatively little is known about a number of key aspects of household water use. In particular, the productivity cost to households of having an inadequate water supply, measured in terms of the quantity and quality of labor lost as a result, has rarely been examined carefully. There is also relatively little known about water use in rural areas, as most research has focused on the developing world’s rapidly expanding cities. Among the regions of the world, both of these research gaps are most acute for sub-Saharan Africa, the region whose population is the most rural and has the least access to an improved water supply.
This paper reviews and summarizes the results of studies of household water use in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa that offer clues to the effects of household water resources on rural productivity. Findings are presented on the extent of household access to safe water supplies, household water use, the costs of water-related diseases, the time costs of collecting water from distance sources, and the costs and benefits of interventions to improve household water supplies.
- Most studies indicate that household water use in sub-Saharan Africa averages only about 10 liters/person/day, far less than is needed for proper hygiene practices.
- Water-related diseases account for between 10 percent and 12 percent of all morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Households (and primarily women) spend an average of 134 minutes/day collecting water, and time saved by bringing water supplies closer to households is likely to dominate estimates of the benefits of improving rural water supplies.
- Data on the current and future costs of water-related diseases; the opportunity cost of time spent collecting water and lost to sickness or caring for the sick; and what kinds of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene interventions, in what sequence, produce the greatest health benefits are poor, and further research on these issues is needed.
Download a PDF of Household Water Resources and Rural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Suggested Books
Sanitation and cleanliness for a healthy environment
Practical advice to improve hygiene and sanitation J. Conant, Hesperian Foundation, 2005
This chapter, published by the Hesperian Foundation, provides practical advice on how communities can improve sanitation and hygiene. It covers both personal cleanliness (hygiene) – hand-washing, bathing, and wearing clean clothes – and public cleanliness (sanitation) – using clean and safe toilets, keeping water sources clean, and disposing of rubbish safely. The chapter explains how poor sanitation leads to health problems, such as diarrhoea, dehydration, and bladder and kidney infections.Other topics include the different sanitation needs of men and women; access for disabled children and adults; sanitation for children’s health; sanitation in cities and towns; and sanitation for emergencies. Instructions are also provided on how to build a simple hand-washing device and several types of toilet; make soap; and treat dehydration. The author argues that the diseases caused by germs from poor hygiene and sanitation will not be prevented if people are blamed for their own poor health, or if only technical solutions are promoted. To improve health in a lasting way, health promoters must listen carefully and work together with people in the community.
Download a PDF copy of Sanitation and cleanliness for a healthy environment
The state and development of adult learning and education in Subsaharan Africa
This report on the development and state of adult learning and education (ALE) in Subsaharan Africa is necessarily framed within the context of global development and change and in particular with the policy agendas of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA). The role of ALE is explicitly or implicitly addressed in these initiatives and this challenges the field to examine what has been done since CONFINTEA V to foster and develop democracy, communities, societies and human rights through adult learning. The report synthesises the Member State reports submitted in response to a request by UNESCO, supplemented where necessary by other sources, reports and research documentation. The limitations of this report include its necessary brevity and lack of data in certain key areas. There is a need for some pan-African standardisation of the terminology relating to literacy, adult basic education, non-formal education and lifelong learning, not in any restrictive or prescriptive way, but simply to aid understanding and comparability of data and research emanating from countries in Africa. Clarity is also needed in distinguishing adult education from more general community development.
(Source:UNESCO,2009)
How to get a copy
Download a PDF of The state and development of adult learning and education in Subsaharan Africa
Suggested Books
Sharing the benefits around large dams in West Africa
Sharing the benefits around large dams in West Africa by The International Institute for Environment and Development
Major dams have long been criticised by NGOs, however they need not necessarily spell disaster for the communities they displace, if benefits from the dam can be shared over its whole lifetime. The report “Sharing the benefits of large dams in West Africa” from the International Institute for Environment and Development coincides with a regional consultation about how future dams in West Africa can share benefits with local people, including river users and communities who have been displaced.
The report acknowledges that many dam programmes that have resettled and compensated people have been problematic especially after a few years, when compensation measures linked to the construction of the dam come to an end. But it points to mechanisms where direct or indirect benefits from hydropower or irrigation schemes have been shared with local people. The challenge is to ensure that displaced people benefit through the lifetime of the dam – as much as 50 to 80 years – and not just for the first 5 to 10 years when the project’s main financial backers are still engaged. The report says mechanisms that engage and support affected communities will also benefit governments, investors and dam operators by promoting good community relations, public support for infrastructure development and improved livelihoods.
How to get a copy
English “Sharing the benefits around large dams in West Africa”: http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/12555IIED.pdf
French “Partage des bénéfices issus des grands barrages en Afrique de l’Ouest” http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/12555FIIED.pdf
More information
For further information contact : Jamie Skinner, Cluster Leader, Global Water Initiative – West Africa, International Institute for Environment and Development, 4 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2EN, Scotland. Email: Jamie.skinner@iied.org, Tel : + 44 131 226 6866, Fax: + 44 131 624 7050
Suggested Book
African Drylands Commodity Atlas now available (free)
The UNCCD secretariat, the Common Fund For Commodities (CFC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have launched the first African Drylands Commodity Atlas. The Atlas highlights the importance of commodities for primary agricultural production in African countries. It enhances the understanding of national policy makers in dryland Least
Developed Countries (LDCs), development partners and other stakeholders on the possibilities and potential opportunities to achieve poverty reduction through environmentally sustainable and economically profitable commodity production drylands.
How to get a copy
The Atlas is available for free download (pdf, 5.8mb) from: http://www.unccd.int/knowledge/docs/Atlas%20web.pdf
Suggested books
Human Development Report 2009
The Human Development Report is produced each year and each edition has a theme. The theme for 2009, is migration.
The report investigates migration in the context of demographic changes and trends in both growth and inequality. It also presents more detailed and nuanced individual, family and village experiences, and explores less visible movements typically pursued by disadvantaged groups such as short term and seasonal migration.
There is a range of evidence about the positive impacts of migration on human development, through such avenues as increased household incomes and improved access to education and health services. There is further evidence that migration can empower traditionally disadvantaged groups, in particular women. At the same time, risks to human development are also present where migration is a reaction to threats and denial of choice, and where regular opportunities for movement are constrained.
How to get a copy
You can download a PDF of the Human Development Report 2009 in sections or the whole report.
Buy a copy from Amazon.com: Human Development Report 2009: Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development
The Challenges of Free Primary Education in Ethiopia
Removing the barrier of education fees
Ethiopia abolished school fees in 2002 as part of their poverty reduction strategy. This UNESCO report documents that experience. A major part of the change was the collaboration between the Education and Finance ministries.
Education for All and the Millennium development Goals have given developing countries an incentive to attain universal primary education through accelerated and scaled strategies. Abolishing school fees is one such strategy, which is seen as a measure to improve enrolment and participation rates. Tuition fees and other private costs of schooling are viewed as a barrier to accessing and completing primary education. They are a burden in counties where poverty forces families and households to choose how many children to send school and for how long. School fees tax the poor regressively.
The full paper of The Challenges of Free Primary Education in Ethiopia is available in PDF format; number of pages: 96p
Suggested Books
Combating malnutrition in South Africa
Progress in reducing malnutrition
This report summarizes the progress that South Africa has made in reducing malnutrition. It also explores some of the main reasons why greater progress has not been made and presents some suggestions for policy priorities to effectively address the nutrition issues that have been identified.
The report particularly emphasizes that the Integrated Nutrition Program (INP) should prioritise the following nutrition interventions:
1)Improve breastfeeding and especially exclusive breastfeeding rates;
2) Review and strengthen infant and young child feeding interventions along the line of the South African Paediatric Food Based Dietary Guidelines;
3) Strengthen the micronutrient deficiency control programs at scale;
4) Develop partnerships for implementing the National Healthy Lifestyle Program;
5) Improve the role of Government to play a stewardship and coordinating role so that nutrition is more centrally positioned in social, agriculture and health departments and to form partnerships with the private sector and;
6) Invest in rigorous monitoring and evaluation for effective data for decision-making. The current efforts on nutrition surveillance in the country should be reassessed, strengthened and formalized.
(Source:GAIN,2009)
How to get a copy
Download a PDF of Combating malnutrition in South Africa
Suggested Books
Oral Tradition and the Slave Trade
The history of Africa is largely unwritten. But there is a corpus of potential historical legacy in the oral traditions and testimonies of communities. A UNESCO project has undertaken to compile the stories of slavery. This book is one result of that effort.
Oral history
The book Oral Tradition and the Slave Trade in Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin by Alaba Simpson is available for download (pdf)
Within the framework of the “Slave Route” project, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (“UNESCO”) has undertaken a large compilation of oral traditions and memorable testimonies of the legacies entailed in the history of this tragic institution. This living memory, engraved in the lives of families and communities, constitutes a priceless, intangible cultural heritage that is becoming more fragile as older generations are replaced by younger ones. These memories must be preserved at all costs.
This study involves historical research that informs us of the roots of current-day antagonisms between various ethnic groups and lineages within Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin. Such modern-day conflicts are often the result of the continuing impacts of the social disruptions created in the past by the operations of the slave trade and the institution of slavery. This study in oral traditions is also especially concerned with the essential process remembrance, which must take place so that the memory of this tragedy should not be lost, and that new and insidious forms of slavery never reappear.
This report and the related study were commissioned by the Slave Route Project of UNESCO, through the UNESCO office in Abuja, Nigeria. UNESCO’s interest in the Slave Route Project in Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana has gained pre-eminence in recent times. Such research documentation of oral traditions relating to slavery and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the histories of these nations provides an important step towards realization of the Slave Route project in this region. The main objective of the research was to look into the oral tradition relating to slavery and slave trade in Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana. More specifically, the research aimed at the following: to consider the ways in which the idea of slavery and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is perceived in the mindset of the people that were studied; and to determine the extent, if at all, to which the Trans-Atlantic slave trade has affected the social relationships that presently exist within these societies. Given the nature of the research, a method of in-depth interviews was adopted, with supplementary use of archival information from museums and monument sites, as well as other relevant materials on related subjects. The fieldwork for this study was conducted in the period of July 2 and September 19, 2001. The author is grateful for the assistance of the National Commission for UNESCO, which was utilized to advance the cause of the research.
internet site for the Slave Route Project, and a copy is available here from Dr. Simpson.
Download this report here in Adobe .pdf format
Suggested books
Related articles
- Scholars want help identifying slaves’ origins (mercurynews.com)
Kenya : Environmental goods collection and the schooling of children
Environmental goods collection and children’s schooling: evidence from Kenya. S. Wagura; W. Nyangena, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2009
This study examines the link between environmental goods collection and children’s schooling in Kenya. It proposes that, as resources becomes more scarce, households will invest more time in collecting them and this will adversely affect the children’s school attendance and performance.
The main findings of the study are:
- there is a positive correlation between resource collection and school attendance
- children’s school attendance and progress is negatively affected by scarcity of natural resources through the increased work that results from scarcity of natural resources
- the effects of resource collection work on school performance were not significant which suggest that performance mostly depends on the child’s ability
- there is a positive relationship between performance and the type of school the child attends
- the presence of women being involved in resource collection work positively increases school attendance
The paper concludes that there is a need to reduce the child’s involvement in resource collection in several ways:
- increasing water supply may reduce the time children spend queuing for water at the source of water
- for the areas with access to village tap, a good solution can be increasing the number of village taps to a short distance from each other which will reduce the time children spend in queuing and travelling
- good management of existing water resources can be encouraged through water conservation measures, which also helps saving children’s time
- to reduce the time children spend to collect firewood, the available alternatives of fuels for cooking should be improved
Via ELDIS
Download a copy
Download a pdf of Environmental goods collection and children’s schooling in Kenya