SocioLingo Africa

African Schools Dominate Global Education Competition

sociolingo — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:59:36 +0000

A great attainment for African schools

African schools won five out of the eight prizes on offer for the 2011 School Enterprise Challenge, a global competition for schools. This announcement coincides with the launch of the 2012 challenge, which opened for registration today.

Organised by development charity, Teach A Man To Fish, this international competition aims to reward schools for their sustainable and entrepreneurial skills. Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, the prizes will help them develop their business skills further and strengthen the community around it.

Of the four $1,000 prizes available for the first business planning stage, all of them went to African Schools: Sovhen in Uganda, Indeco School in Zambia, KCM Konkola Trust in Zambia and The President Barack Obama Computer College in Kenya.

In the second business start up stage, Indeco School in Zambia won the $5,000 ‘People’ prize for their bag and school uniform-making business, named Indeco Divine Hands, for having a positive effect of their local community. By taking part in the School Enterprise Challenge and developing a successful business, the school has been able to install electricity in the classrooms.

“The fact that Indeco Divine Hands is a part of the School Enterprise Challenge has really brightened the spirits of the school community and the installation of electricity at the school has greatly improved the welfare of our students” said Headmaster of Indeco School.

This week also sees the launch of the 2012 School Enterprise Challenge, which unlike last year, is open to all schools around the globe. In addition to the top prizes for schools, this year’s competition will include individual prizes of $2,000 for the best teacher as well as a laptop for the best student.

“We are delighted to be holding the second School Enterprise Challenge. With more countries and schools getting involved the competition will be even bigger and better and more young people will be equipped with the skills needed to enter the business world,” says Nik Kafka, Managing Director of Teach A Man To Fish.

London 9 May 2012

ABOUT THE SCHOOL ENTERPRISE CHALLENGE
The School Enterprise Challenge is a global competition open to all formal educational institutes in every country. It is a chance for schools and their students to develop a school business that not only generates additional income for the school, but also provides students with valuable business skills. There are two routes to enter the 2012 School Enterprise Challenge:

Route 1 (Developing & Developed Countries)
Stage I: Business Planning: Students decide on their enterprise and research & develop a business plan outlining what they intend to do & how they will finance it.
Stage II: Enterprise challenge: Schools elect a board to manage the business, assign roles, mobilize resources for start-up, and implement their enterprises.

Route 2 (Developed Countries)
Write and submit a business plan aimed at a partner school in a developing country. Schools will be encouraged to interact with their overseas partner schools as much as possible, and to learn from each other’s experience of the business planning process.

Website: www.schoolenterprisechallenge.org.uk
Facebook: schoolenterprisechallenge
Twitter: @SchEnterprise

ABOUT TEACH A MAN TO FISH
Teach A Man To Fish is an international non-profit organization working to improve the relevancy, quality, and availability of education in developing countries. Our pioneering approach uses profit-making school-run businesses to teach entrepreneurship and livelihood skills. This model allows schools to generate additional income, improving their financial sustainability, while at the same time enabling them to offer a more relevant and higher quality education.

Website: www.teachamantofish.org.uk
Facebook: teachamantofish
Twitter: @TweetAManToFish

African Schools Dominate Global Education Competition

Freeplay launches new Encore range to support international development and relief

sociolingo — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:16:51 +0000

SocioLingo Africa

Freeplay launches new range of products designed specifically for off-grid communities in the developing world

London, xx May 2012: Approximately 1.6 billion people are currently living without access to electricity. To address the needs of these energy impoverished people, Freeplay has launched a new range of products designed specifically for off-grid communities in the developing world, and those recovering from natural disasters.

Aimed at organisations engaged in aid and development work, disaster relief and emergency response planning, the low-cost, compact and robust Encore range of multi-band (FM/AM/SW1/SW2) radios builds on the remarkable success of Freeplay’s other products, which are in widespread use across Africa, Asia and many other parts of the world.

Each radio in the Encore range is powered by a solar panel and Freeplay’s patented highly-efficient hand-operated dynamo, and includes a mobile phone charging point, a built-in reading light and an easy-to-replace aerial.

In addition, Encore Primary offers an analogue display which can be supplied in languages appropriate to any market, Encore Digital offers a digital display with a large, clear and easy-to-read format, and Encore Playeroffers a 64GB SD card memory which supports the use of pre-recorded educational material.

Announcing the launch of the Encore range, Freeplay’s Managing Director, John McGrath, says:

“Radio broadcasts continue to play a vital role in the developing world by giving people daily access to critical information and educational content.

We are delighted to launch Freeplay’s Encore range of radios which make it possible for people living without power or the money to buy batteries to receive these broadcasts daily.

“And, with the huge increase in use in the developing world of that other vital communication tool – the mobile phone- Encore’s integrated phone charging point makes it easier for people to stay in touch.

Freeplay’s radios are already making a difference to people’s lives in some of the most difficult environments on Earth. They are offering access to information about health and the promotion of life-saving messages, such as how to prepare potable water, how to fight malaria and water-borne diseases and raising awareness of disease outbreak.

Freeplay’s John McGrath concludes:

Since its’ formation, Freeplay has developed a deep understanding of how long-term access to radio, light and electrical energy can transform lives. Our new Encore range builds on that experience and understanding and, in a very real sense, offers – power for good.”

Freeplay launches new Encore range to support international development and relief

Niger : Saturated onion market causes problems

sociolingo — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:28:06 +0000

SocioLingo Africa

Niger Onion Producers in Tears Over Market Glut

By Ousseini Issa

NIAMEY, Apr 10 (IPS) – Bitterness is written all over Boureïma Hamado’s face as he prepares to return home after selling his onion crop at the Katako market in the Nigerien capital, Niamey. He’s taken a big loss on the harvest.

Hamado, 35, tells IPS he brought 20 sacks of onions – 140 kilos in total – to Niamey hoping to sell them for a good price, which would have allowed him to settle his debts with something left over for basic needs.

“I needed to sell each sack for 4,500 francs CFA (around nine dollars), though I was expecting to get at least 6,500 CFA per bag. This venture has cost me more than 100,000 CFA (200 dollars) and I lost out at every point, because just to bring the onions here, I borrowed 15,000 CFA,” he says.

“I bet on high profits from onions – which were selling for more than 25,000 CFA (50 dollars) a bag last year – and increased my production, but I didn’t account for a glut on the market,” he says.

Around 300,000 Nigerien farmers grow onions, generating revenue equivalent to around 100 million dollars a year, according to a Niamey-based smallholders’ organisation, the Federation of Market Garden Cooperatives of Niger (FCMN-Niyya).

This year, onion producers face huge problems selling their crop because the market is saturated, according to FCMN-Niyya president Idrissa Bagnou.

“There was a bumper harvest because farmers have become more professional, have had better access to seeds, and the total number of farmers has gone up. Unfortunately, consumption has not also increased, either locally or in the countries to which our produce is usually exported,” Bagnou told IPS.

“Foreign traders, who usually buy onions throughout the year, hadn’t finished selling off stock harvested in September 2011 from Agadez (in northern Niger) when the December-February crop from other parts of the country came onto the market,” he said. “That’s where the steep fall in the price has come from.”

With an average annual production of 500,000 tonnes, Niger is the leading producer of onions in the West African Economic and Monetary Union area, according to figures from PRODEX, the Agro-Pastoral Export and Market Development Project, based in Niamey.

“Output, more than 70 percent of which is exported to Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin and Togo, has shot up this year, thanks to the sharp rise in the price of onions last year – they sold for up to 100,000 CFA (200 dollars) a bag at one point during the 2010-2011 season,” Dr Idé Tahirou, who monitors the onion market for a U.S. NGO with an office in Niamey, International Relief and Development, told IPS.

“It’s this sudden spike in the price which pushed many smallholders to plant onions,” said Tahirou. FCMN-Niyya estimates that this year’s harvest will be over 600,000 tonnes.

Elhadj Amadou Dan-Rani, an onion exporter in Niamey, explained that farmers also face competition from further afield. “Our customers in neighbouring countries still have large stocks of onions, originating not only from Niger but from Burkina Faso, Mali and even a European country like the Netherlands. That’s why exports have slowed.”

While onion producers are in turmoil, consumers are delighted. “In 15 years, I have never seen the price fall so low,” Fatouma Harouna, a Niamey restaurant owner, told IPS.

“A bag of onions which last year cost as much as 40,000 CFA (80 dollars) is now selling for 5,000 CFA. It’s truly a bargain for us,” she said.

Tahirou said the high prices last year were simply due to a temporary shortage. He estimated that the price of a 12-kilo sack of onions in normal times is around 40 dollars.

Responding to the problem, the government met with stakeholders in the onion sector in the central town of Tahoua in early March to look at ways to help distressed producers and to better organise the commercialisation of the crop.

Abdoulsalam Douma, an expert at FCMN-Niyya, says one short-term solution would be for the government to buy part of this year’s harvest directly, paying producers at least 40 dollars a bag.

“But above all,” Douma said, “what’s needed are loans to smallholders to build storage facilities, and the establishment of offices to coordinate commercialisation in all the onion-producing areas and allow farmer associations to better organise their sales over time.”

(END/2012)

[Copyright Inter Press Service (IPS) 2011. Stories reproduced in print or web must acknowledge IPS and the author, and may not be sold to other organizations]

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http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/a-new-dawn-rises-over-malawi/

Libya Faces a Health Check

http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/libya-faces-a-health-check/

Islamist Rebel Faction Imposes Sharia in the North of Mali

http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/islamist-rebel-faction-imposes-sharia-in-the-north-of-mali/

Young Ivorians Fishing Big Profits out of Small Ponds

http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/young-ivorians-fishing-big-profits-out-of-small-ponds/

The Battle over Development-Led Globalisation

http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/the-battle-over-development-led-globalisation/

FEATURED AUDIO:

http://www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/more-teenagers-are-falling-pregnant-in-rural-south-africa/

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Africa IMF Reports : Niger 2011

sociolingo — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:11:36 +0000

SocioLingo Africa

IMF reports for Niger 2011

IMF Policy Paper: Niger – Assessment Letter for the World Bank and the European Union Summary: Niger’s macroeconomic performance in 2010 was strong, mainly reflecting the exceptional 2010-11 harvest. The bumper crop and the completion of the year-long transition to democracy have also brightened the near-term economic outlook. The recently-adopted revised 2011 budget foresees an increase in expenditure financed in large part by the expected pick-up in external support, helped by the freeing up of resources as ill-targeted fuel price subsidies are gradually phased out. The authorities have expressed a wish to initiate discussions on an economic program that could be supported by the Fund under the Extended Credit Facility in the coming months.
http://www.imf.org/external/pp/longres.aspx?id=4572

Press Release: Christine Lagarde to Visit Nigeria and Niger on First Trip to Africa as IMF Managing Director
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2011/pr11439.htm

Country Report No. 11/358: Niger: Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=25443.0

Public Information Notice: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2011 Article IV Consultation and Discusses the Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement with Niger
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2011/pn11159.htm

IMF Survey: Oil, Uranium Projects Brighten Medium-term Prospects in Niger A new crude oil processing project and rising uranium production are set to boost Niger’s economic growth from next year, the IMF says in its regular review of the nation’s economy. Higher resources revenues should bolster Niger’s fiscal and external position in the medium term.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2011/car121911a.htm

Securing Niger’s Economic Future in Uncertain Global Economic Times By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2011/122111.htm

Press Release: Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the Conclusion of her Visit to Niger
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2011/pr11483.htm

IMF Survey: IMF Chief in Africa Spotlights Jobs, Investment Problems in the advanced economies might seem a world away from Africa, but in today’s interconnected global economy no country and no region is immune to risks, IMF chief Christine Lagarde says in Lagos, Nigeria during her first trip to Africa as head of the IMF.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2011/car122211a.htm

All information collated from imf.org

Suggested Books

A History of Niger 1850-1960 (African Studies)

This comprehensive history of Niger during the colonial period is a work based on primary research which attempts an overall appraisal of the colonial past.

The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000 (Volume 1)

The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000 is by far the most ambitious and comprehensive assessment of Africa’s post-independence economic performance to date.

Africa IMF Reports : Niger 2011

Africa IMF Reports : Namibia 2011

sociolingo — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 08:48:03 +0000

SocioLingo Africa

IMF reports for Namibia 2011

Departmental Paper No. 11/01: In the Wake of the Global Economic Crisis: Adjusting to Lower Revenue of the Southern African Customs Union in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland. Summary: The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is facing its biggest challenge in its 100 years of existence. The global economic crisis has significantly reduced its revenue outlook, which is having a disproportionate impact on its smaller member countries, and which calls for an appropriate policy response. This paper discusses specifically the implications for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland, and provides recommendations regarding the proper fiscal response by these countries to the decline in SACU revenue.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24512.0

Press Release: Statement by IMF Staff Mission to Namibia
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2011/pr11427.htm

All information collated from imf.org

Africa IMF Reports : Namibia 2011