insert_link Africa Africans showcase the continent’s athletic supremacy at the World Cross-Country Championships By Stephen Granger, SPNA If you want to get a sense of the level to which African runners dominate distance running right now, look no further than the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, held this year in Belgrade, Serbia. From Kenya to South Africa, Uganda to Ethiopia, different cross-country athletes from the continent recorded remarkable performances. Formerly known as the International Cross Country Championships, the annual event […] todayApril 8, 2024 15
insert_link Africa Young Kenyans are not finding work: how universities can do a better job of training entrepreneurs By Renson Muchiri Mwangi, KCA University; Judy N. Muthuri, University of Nottingham, and Mohsen Gul, University of Cambridge Kenya’s long-term development blueprint, Vision 2030, envisions an empowered youth driving economic growth. The focus on its young population (aged 15–34) is apt given that the median age of the country’s population of 55 million is around 20 years. This has led to a succession of policies and strategies […] todayApril 8, 2024 3
insert_link Africa South Africa’s conservation model: why expanding the use of biodiversity to generate money is a good idea By Hayley Clements, Stellenbosch University; Alta De Vos, Stellenbosch University, and Matthew Child, University of Pretoria South Africa’s government is calling for public comments on an updated version of its existing biodiversity economy plan. The National Biodiversity Economy Strategy aims to conserve biodiversity while also contributing to job creation and economic growth. It proposes to do this by promoting sustainable use of the country’s natural resources. The strategy […] todayApril 8, 2024 22
insert_link Africa Have you ever suffered intimate partner abuse? We asked girls in Malawi and 40% said yes By Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center and Elita Chamdimba, University of Malawi Intimate partner violence starts early. Around one in four girls aged between 15 and 19 worldwide have already been subjected to physical or sexual violence. Girls who experience abuse in their childhood face increased and disproportionate levels of intimate partner violence later in life. Pregnant and parenting girls are even more exposed […] todayApril 8, 2024 6
insert_link Africa South Africa’s crucial water supplies from Lesotho: what the six-month shutdown means for industry, farming and residents By Ifedotun Aina, University of Cape Town The main water supply to South Africa’s economic hub, greater Johannesburg in the Gauteng province, and to the country’s breadbasket in the Free State, is scheduled to be cut off for six months. Maintenance work on the 37 kilometre Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel is due to begin in October 2024. Ifedotun Victor Aina, a senior researcher at the Water […] todayApril 8, 2024 23
insert_link Africa CFA franc: conditions are ripe for replacement of the west African currency rooted in colonialism – expert By Kai Koddenbrock, Bard College Berlin At no point in history has the CFA franc – the name of a colonial currency used in west and central African countries belonging to the franc zone – been closer to its demise. Senegal has overwhelmingly voted for leftwing Pastef candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye (and his former party leader Ousmane Sonko) while the coup governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger […] todayApril 8, 2024 69
insert_link Africa Africa now emits as much carbon as it stores: landmark new study Cattle emit a lot of methane, but they also provide livelihoods and environmental services. Getty Images Yolandi Ernst, University of the Witwatersrand and Sally Archibald, University of the Witwatersrand A landmark new study has found that, in the last decade, the African continent has started emitting more carbon than it stores. When the total amount of carbon that is sequestered by natural ecosystems (such as the soil and plants in […] todayApril 8, 2024 18
insert_link Africa Kenya’s wildlife conservancies make old men rich, while making women and young people poorer By Joseph Ogutu, University of Hohenheim Kenya once had an exceptional abundance and diversity of wildlife. But as the country’s population boomed, wildlife lost space to people, buildings, roads and agriculture. Since 1948, Kenya’s population has surged by 780%, from 5.4 million people to 47.6 million people in 2019. This was accompanied by a 70% drop in wildlife numbers, between 1977 and 2013. This massive loss of wildlife […] todayApril 5, 2024 10
Africa 30 years after genocide: Rwanda’s older generations fear a return of ethnic tensions, but youth feel more united By Jonathan Beloff, King's College London It’s 30 years since a genocide ripped through Rwandan society, leaving up to a million Tutsi and non-extremist Hutu dead. Every year in early April, the country enters a 100-day period of commemoration during which Rwandans are asked to remember and reflect on historical divisions between the country’s main ethnic groups: Tutsi, Hutu and Twa. This is done under the banner […] todayApril 5, 2024 11