insert_link Africa Liberia transferred power peacefully again: 3 reasons the calm is holding, and one red flag By Charles Wratto, Babes Bolyai University Joseph Boakai was sworn in as Liberia’s 26th president on 22 January 2024. Boakai secured a six year term of office after defeating incumbent president George Weah in a keenly contested November 2023 poll with 50.9% of the votes cast. The west African country of 5 million people reached a major milestone on 17 November 2023, when Weah, of the Congress for […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 6
insert_link Environment Cape fishers worried about declining fish populations Mario Jacobs has been doing commercial fishing for decades. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks By Liezl Human via GroundUp Mario Jacobs is worried. He has had a commercial fishing license since 1998, and has an annual quota for catching sardines and anchovies. But sardine stocks have been in poor shape for years and 2023 was the worst year on record for anchovy stocks. Jacobs, who is from Hangberg in Hout Bay, says his […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 13
insert_link World Gaza Is Cleaning Up Its Piles of Garbage From the War, Including Human Waste A new Unicef cash-assistance program is helping Gazans remove piles of garbage accrued during the war, including human feces. The goal is to stop the spread of infectious diseases in the enclave as millions of civilians are forced into flimsy shelters or to live in the streets. By Dawn Clancy via PassBlue Bombs, bullets and the suffocating weight of bodies trapped under slabs of fallen concrete where houses once stood […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 14
insert_link Business / Economics As equity deals continue to decline and volumes dry up worldwide, African startups are increasingly relying on venture debt to stay afloat. By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency In 2022, when funding from venture capitalists began to dry up in Africa, Treepz, a shared mobility startup, was faced with a difficult decision... throw in the towel or grow the business without new investors. As part of their decision to keep going, they changed their core business model. “Towards the end of 2022, we knew the funding draught would happen in Africa. We […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 3
insert_link Business / Economics Lessons from Finland’s attempt to transition to a circular economy Tracegrow, a Finnish company, uses recycled batteries and industrial waste to create agricultural fertilizers. A number of companies are innovating to increase circular solutions. At the national level, however, experts underline that great challenges remain to advance circularity. Image courtesy of Tracegrow. By Sean Mowbray via MongaBay In 2016, Finland became the first country in the world to adopt a national circular economy road map, with the ambition to become a […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 7
insert_link Business / Economics We need a better understanding of how crops fare under solar panels, study shows Farmers in Bihar, India, growing crops amidst solar panels. Image by C. de Bode/CGIAR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). By Ruth Kamnitzer via MongaBay The dream of agrivoltaics is to generate your electricity and eat your edamame too. But a recent study in Agroforestry Systems shows that agrivoltaics — growing food beneath solar panels — is not so simple. Research published in September finds that overall crop yields decrease when paired with solar panels and offers […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 14
insert_link Lifestyle Achieving harmony between work and life By Celeste Nangolo, Human Capital Manager, Old Mutual Namibia A fulfilling and purpose-driven professional life is like a vibrant picture. It is a mix of feeling good, work goals, and personal dreams all scrambled together. The focus is on how setting meaningful goals, blending them into your everyday work, and caring about your overall well-being can work together. It's not just about getting things done; it's about growing together […] todayJanuary 23, 2024 10
insert_link Africa Kenyan universities are very short of professors: why it matters and what to do about it Ishmael Munene, Northern Arizona University A Kenyan vice-chancellor recently went public about the scarcity of university professors. There are fewer than 1,000 professors for the country’s 68 universities and 562,925 students. That is an average of around 563 students per professor. South Africa has around 4,034 professors and 1,112,439 students – around 275 students per professor. Professors occupy the highest teaching rank in the university. They reach this […] todayJanuary 23, 2024 15
insert_link Africa Ghana wants to make importing food like rice and tomatoes more costly: expert explains why it’s a bad idea By Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, University of Guelph Ghana, like many other developing nations, relies heavily on imports of food and consumer goods to feed its population. For instance, Ghana imports 55% of the rice that is consumed locally. The country’s import dependence is primarily a consequence of the production of low-value primary products without substantial value addition. To forestall over-dependence on foreign goods, the government has proposed a trade […] todayJanuary 23, 2024 6
