September 19, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's Smallholder Vegetable Farmers Aren't Getting the Finance They Need - This Is What It Should Look Like
Fresh efforts are being made to increase the share of black ownership in South Africa's agricultural sector. This follows decades of missteps and badly designed interventions that… Read more »
September 15, 2023
Morocco: Morocco Earthquake - Why Traditional Earthen Architecture Is Not to Blame for the Destruction Communities Have Endured
The 6.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Morocco on Friday, September 8 has claimed almost 3,000 lives. A further 5,530 people are injured, and the death toll is expected to rise. Read more »
Libya: Libya Dam Collapse Happened Because of Bad Management, Not Bad Weather
More than 11,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands are missing following the catastrophic dam collapse in the eastern Libyan city of Derna on 12 September. The dam… Read more »
September 14, 2023
South Africa: South Africa Can't Crack the Inequality Curse. Why, and What Can Be Done
South Africa is ranked one of the most unequal societies in the world. The Conversation Africa spoke to Imraan Valodia, a professor of economics and dean of the Faculty of… Read more »
September 07, 2023
Africa: AI-Narrated Audiobooks Are Here - and They Raise Some Serious Ethical Questions
Meet Madison and Jackson, the AI narrators or "digital voices" soon to be reading some of the audiobooks on Apple Books. They sound nothing like Siri or Alexa or the voice telling… Read more »
September 04, 2023
Africa: Climate Change Will Affect Hydropower - African Countries Must Be Prepared
Hydropower provides clean electricity to millions in Africa. It's the largest source of renewable energy on the continent and accounts for nearly one quarter of total electricity… Read more »
September 03, 2023
Zimbabwe: Climate Action Plan - A Win for the Environment, Health and Energy
The dumping of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere yearly is already having a devastating impact around the world. This includes… Read more »
August 30, 2023
Africa: Giraffes Range Across Diverse Habitats - We're Using GPS, Satellites and Statistics to Track and Protect Them
Nearly 6,000 years ago, our ancestors climbed arid rocky outcrops in what is now the Nigerian Sahara and carved spectacularly intricate, larger-than-life renditions of giraffes… Read more »
August 29, 2023
East Africa: Landlocked Ethiopia Wants Better Sea Access - a Port Deal With Neighbours Could Benefit the Region
Ethiopia's access to the coast has occupied the minds of the country's rulers since time immemorial. This is because being landlocked undermines Ethiopia's ability to grow its… Read more »
August 25, 2023
South Africa: Cape Town Taxi Strike Exposes a Deeply Unequal City - and the Legacy of Apartheid
Cape Town in South Africa often tops international travel polls and was recently voted the best city in the world to travel to by readers of a UK newspaper. But the reality for… Read more »
August 24, 2023
Africa: For Minorities, Biased AI Algorithms Can Damage Almost Every Part of Life
Bad data does not only produce bad outcomes. It can also help to suppress sections of society, for instance vulnerable women and minorities. Read more »
August 21, 2023
Africa: Beginning of the End - How Elon Musk's Removal of the Block Function On X Could Trigger Its Hellish Demise
On Saturday, X (formerly Twitter) chairman Elon Musk tweeted he would be removing the microblogging platform's block function. It would remain intact for direct messages, but would… Read more »
August 24, 2023
Africa: China's Africa Strategy Is Shifting From Extraction to Investment - Driven From the Industry-Rich Hunan Region
China experienced a massive economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s which increased its demand for resource imports, like oil, from Africa. This led to a model of development finance… Read more »
August 14, 2023
Africa: 3 Ways AI Is Transforming Music
Each fall, I begin my course on the intersection of music and artificial intelligence by asking my students if they're concerned about AI's role in composing or producing music. Read more »
August 21, 2023
Africa: Africa Is Being Courted By China, Russia and the U.S. Why the Continent Shouldn't Pick Sides
Some three decades since the end of the Cold War, the world order is undergoing a structural transformation. At the heart of it is the challenge posed to the hegemony of the US.… Read more »
August 16, 2023
Kenya: Kenya and the U.S. Are Negotiating a Trade Deal That Could Be a Model for Africa
The US and Kenya announced a trade and investment partnership in July 2022. Talks have been progressing on the way forward in nine areas, including agriculture, anti-corruption,… Read more »
August 15, 2023
Ghana: Mobile Money in Ghana Isn't All Good News - Customers Are Paying a Hefty Price
Fintechs, notably mobile money, have transformed banking and finance in developing and emerging economies in Africa and beyond. Financial technology (better known as fintech) is… Read more »
August 10, 2023
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Heads to the Polls Amid High Inflation, a Slumping Currency and a Cost of Living Crisis
Zimbabwe is facing a host of pressing challenges that voters dearly want the next president to address. Persistently high inflation, elevated interest rates, and a slumping and… Read more »
August 09, 2023
Kenya: Kenya Is Going Digital to Boost Tax Revenue - There Are Lessons to Learn From Other African Countries
Many African tax authorities have weak capacity to raise revenue. From 1990 to 2020, sub-Saharan African countries on average collected only about 12%-15% of GDP as taxes, a much… Read more »
August 07, 2023
Africa: Computer Science Can Help Farmers Explore Alternative Crops and Sustainable Farming Methods
Humans have physically reconfigured half of the world's land to grow just eight staple crops: maize (corn), soy, wheat, rice, cassava, sorghum, sweet potato and potato. They… Read more »
South Africa: How to Build Financial Resilience - Insurance and Retirement Savings Are the Most Effective Tools in South Africa - Study
Imagine you've found yourself in a difficult financial situation and needed to raise R40,000 (more than US$2,000) on the spot. Where and how would you raise these funds? Or what if… Read more »
August 06, 2023
Africa: An Expanded Brics Could Reset World Politics but Picking New Members Isn't Straightforward
Eager to escape perceived western domination, several countries - mostly in the global south - are looking to join the Brics bloc. The five-country bloc (Brazil, Russia, India,… Read more »
July 31, 2023
Africa: 3 Ways Higher Education Can Become More Hopeful in the Post-Pandemic, Post-AI Era
We live at a time when universities and colleges are facing multiplying crises, pressures and changes. Read more »
August 02, 2023
Namibia: Oil Drilling Threatens the Okavango River Basin, Putting Water in Namibia and Botswana At Risk
The Namibian and Botswana governments may be risking their water resources for oil and gas revenue. They have licensed a Canadian firm, ReconAfrica, to prospect for oil in the… Read more »
July 31, 2023
Africa: Cyber Governance in Africa Is Weak. Taking the Malabo Convention Seriously Would Be a Good Start
_Several African countries are pursuing digital transformation ambitions - applying new technologies to enhance the development of society. But concerns exist over the absence of… Read more »