South Africa: South Africa's Student Debt Trap - Two Options That Could Help Resolve the Problem

Education is widely regarded as the road to a better life. Yet the rising cost of tertiary education means many students can only go to university if they get financial aid,… Read more »

South Africa: South African Environmental Groups Push to Block Shell's New Wells - How World Court Opinion Might Help

The International Court of Justice's landmark advisory opinion on climate change has come in handy for South African communities that are trying to stop global oil company Shell… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopia's Mega Dam Has Taken 14 Years to Build - What It Means for the Nile's 11 River States and Why It's So Controversial

In April 2011, Ethiopia began construction of Africa's largest hydroelectric dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Blue Nile river. The dam is expected to… Read more »

South Africa: Woman-Headed Households in Rural South Africa Need Water, Sanitation and Energy to Fight Hunger - G20 Could Help

Rural homes headed by women in South Africa have many problems getting water, sanitation and energy. Electricity from the grid, flush toilets and piped water are't always… Read more »

Chad: Military Force Isn't the Solution for Lake Chad Basin Conflict - the Key Is Rebuilding Local Economies

Fatima, a fisherwoman on Lake Chad, sets out at dawn not just to make a living from the shrinking waters, but to pay a "tax". Before casting her net, she must hand over part of her… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya Has Introduced New Banking Policies. an Economist Weighs Them Up

The Central Bank of Kenya has made two significant changes in the country's banking sector. The first is to lift a decade-long moratorium on licensing new banks. Second is to raise… Read more »

Africa: AI Has a Hidden Water Cost - Here's How to Calculate Yours

Artificial intelligence systems are thirsty, consuming as much as 500 milliliters of water - a single-serving water bottle - for each short conversation a user has with the GPT-3… Read more »

Namibia: What Does It Mean to Become an Adult? in Namibia, It's Caring for Others

Around the world, people become adults in different ways. In some places, it's when you get a job, get married, or move out of your parents' house. In others it might include an… Read more »

Senegal: Senegal's Rating Downgrade - Credit Agencies Are Punishing Countries That Don't Check Their Numbers

Senegal's dramatic two-notch credit rating downgrade in February 2025 by the credit rating agency Moody's was followed by a Standard & Poor's downgrade in July. Read more »

Africa: How to Harness the Ocean for Prosperity - Funding African Innovations Can Unlock the Blue Economy

Africa has an enormous ocean area at its disposal. There are almost 20 million square kilometres of ocean, seas and inland water that could be developed into environmentally… Read more »

Africa: African Debt and Climate Change - How the ICJ's Vanuatu Ruling Could Be Used for Broader Justice

African sovereign debtors in distress face terrible choices. They are often forced to choose between fully paying their creditors and financing the needs of their populations -… Read more »

Africa: African Women Have Less Access to the Internet Than Men - Solutions the G20 Can Champion

Across Africa, women have less access to the internet than men. In Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania only 15%-28% of women own smartphones. Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo is a feminist… Read more »

South Africa: Data That Is Stored and Not Used Has a Carbon Footprint. How Companies Can Manage Dark Data Better

In today's world, huge amounts of data are being created all the time, yet more than half of it is never used. It stays in silos, or isn't managed, or can't be accessed because… Read more »

Ethiopia: 250,000 Ethiopians Migrate Every Year - What Drives Them and What Needs to Change

Migration is increasingly replacing the traditional, education-focused life paths that shaped previous generations in Ethiopia. In the past, becoming a civil servant after… Read more »

Africa: Enslaved Africans, an Uprising and an Ancient Farming System in Iraq - Study Sheds Light On Timelines

Written accounts tell the story of the Zanj rebellion - a slave revolt that took place in the late 9th century in southern Iraq. Some of the rebels were enslaved Africans working… Read more »

Africa: African Migration - 5 Trends and What's Driving Them

The Donald Trump administration issued an executive order in June 2025 banning nationals from 12 countries from travelling to the United States. It also imposed entry restrictions… Read more »

Africa: 2 in 3 Africans Will Live in Cities By 2050 - How Planners Can Put This to Good Use

Africa's population is projected to nearly double by 2050, with 80% of that growth being concentrated in urban areas, leaving two out of three Africans living in cities. This… Read more »

Africa: Hype and Western Values Are Shaping AI Reporting in Africa - What Needs to Change

News media shape public understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and influence how society interacts with these technologies. For many people, especially those who have not… Read more »

Ghana: Ghana's War On Illegal Mining Has Failed - We Set Out to Find Out Why

Early in his eight-year tenure, in 2017, then Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo declared a moratorium on all small-scale gold mining. He established an inter-ministerial committee… Read more »

Africa: Investing That Protects People and the Planet Is Growing - New Study Maps the Progress in South Africa

Institutional investors who invest on behalf of others are increasingly considering environmental conservation and safe working conditions as investment criteria. Read more »

Africa: The International Order Is Shifting - African Countries Have an Opportunity to Reshape Global Power Relations

For too long, Africa's agency has been exercised defensively: managing expectations, preserving stability, reacting to external scripts. The continent has copied political systems… Read more »

Africa: South Africa and China Set Up a Quantum Communication Link - How We Did It and Why It's Historic

A major breakthrough in quantum technology was achieved in October 2024: the first-ever quantum satellite communication link between China and South Africa. The connection spanned… Read more »

Africa: Are African Countries Aware of Their Own Mineral Wealth? Ghana and Rwanda Offer Two Very Different Answers

Imagine running a business for over a century without knowing what's in your warehouse. That's essentially what many African countries are doing with their mineral wealth.… Read more »

South Africa: South African Study Finds 4 Low-Income Communities Can't Cope With Global Warming - What Needs to Change

Climate change is not new: temperatures have been rising for decades as a result of global warming. In South Africa's city of Pietermaritzburg, four low-income urban communities… Read more »

South Africa: Communities Near South Africa's Kruger National Park Prefer Wildlife-Friendly Ways to Earn a Living Over Killing Animals

Kruger National Park is a flagship South African conservation area home to lions, elephants, rhinos, and leopards. Tourists from all over the world flock to the park to see… Read more »