February 05
South Africa: South African Novelist Lauretta Ngcobo Is the Subject of a Tender and Urgent New Film
Lauretta Ngcobo, who passed away in 2015, left a singular and impactful literary legacy in South Africa. Even in a life of exile and resistance to apartheid and white minority rule… Read more »
Sudan: Countries Need Higher Education to Rebuild After Conflict - Study Finds Foreign Aid Isn't Going Where It's Needed
Higher education institutions are frequent casualties in violent conflicts. In Palestine, Ukraine and Sudan, to mention only a few recent examples, university campuses have been… Read more »
Southern Africa: A Giant Star Is Changing Before Our Eyes and Astronomers Are Watching in Real Time
For decades, astronomers have been watching WOH G64, an enormous heavyweight star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy visible with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere.… Read more »
South Africa: New Rugby Rules for South African Kids Aim to Keep Them Safe - What Does the Research Say?
Children in South Africa are back at school after their summer holidays. My son, aged five, has just started school at Wynberg Boys Junior, a school based in Cape Town's southern… Read more »
February 04
Cameroon: Anti-Poverty Programmes Can Change How People See the State and Each Other
When floodwaters washed away Woudou Oumar's home in northern Cameroon, he and his family lost not only shelter but hope. Then a government-supported cash transfer arrived. "The… Read more »
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leoneans Who Live Off the Sea Don't Trust Farmed Fish - but Wild Fish Are in Decline
At dawn in Tombo, one of Sierra Leone's largest fishing towns, small-scale fishers begin landing fish from the sea. A portion of the catch is sold at the landing sites, while the… Read more »
Africa: Grazing and Digging Put Some Herbivores At Greater Risk From Toxic Elements in Soil - New Research
If you've watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa's Kalahari… Read more »
Zambia: Zambia's Farmers Are Working in Dangerous Heat - How They Can Protect Themselves
Farming is central to life in Zambia, with about 60% of the country's labour force relying on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood or income. Seasonal rains shape planting and… Read more »
February 03
Nigeria: Nigerian Women and Contraceptives - Study Finds Big Gaps Between the Haves and the Have-Nots
Nigerian women who are wealthier, more educated and urban are more likely to use modern contraceptives than poorer, less educated and rural women. This is one of the findings of a… Read more »
Africa: Private Credit Rating Agencies Shape Africa's Access to Debt. Better Oversight Is Needed
Africa's development finance challenge has reached a critical point. Mounting debt pressure is squeezing fiscal space. And essential needs in infrastructure, health and education… Read more »
South Africa: Cape Town Project Tests What Hydroponic Farming Can Do in Urban Spaces
Imagine a world where fresh vegetables and herbs sprout in the heart of our cities without the need for sprawling farms. Read more »
South Africa: We Run Writing Workshops At a South African University - What We've Learnt About How Students Are Using AI and How to Help Them
Much is being said about the wonders of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is the new frontier. And while it provides amazing possibilities in fields like medicine, academics… Read more »
February 02
Angola: Angola's Lobito Corridor Is Being Revived - but Who Stands to Gain?
The Lobito Corridor is a massive infrastructure axis linking Angola's shore on the west of Africa to the mineral-rich interior. Built in the first three decades of the 1900s to… Read more »
South Africa: Medicinal Plants Support Men's Health in South Africa - Why This Knowledge Needs Safekeeping
Men's sexual and reproductive health may be awkward to talk about, but there's a need to do so. For example, about one-sixth of all couples worldwide have difficulty conceiving… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Open Borders Promised More Trade and Free Movement - but Crossings Are Chaotic and Corrupt
West Africa has pursued one of the world's most ambitious border liberalisation schemes in the past four decades. The Ecowas Free Movement Protocol, signed in 1979, enables… Read more »
February 01
South Africa: What's Stopping Sunny South Africa's Solar Industry? Court Case Sheds Light On the Wider Problem
A South African solar manufacturer, ARTsolar, is taking the government and several renewable energy developers to court. The case focuses on local content rules for renewable… Read more »
Sierra Leone: Freetown's Property Tax Is Designed to Plug Funding Gap - How Sierra Leone's Capital Went About It
Property taxes remain one of the most underperforming sources of revenue for urban development across Africa. One reason is that they are often opposed by the economic elites and… Read more »
Africa: Should Private Sector Executives Sit On the Boards of Non-Profits? There Are Risks and Benefits
Serving on a non-profit board can be deeply fulfilling and beneficial to the cause - but only if you're fully committed and prepared for the role. Read more »
January 31
Africa: U.S. Exit From the World Health Organization Marks a New Era in Global Health Policy - Here's What the U.S., and World, Will Lose
The U.S. departure from the World Health Organization became official in late January 2026, according to the Trump administration - a year after President Donald Trump signed an… Read more »
January 30
South Sudan: South Sudan's White Army Explained - What It Is - and What It Isn't
The UN issued warnings of potential mass violence between the South Sudanese government and the White Army in January 2026. A peace agreement ended a five-year civil war in the… Read more »
South Africa: Fossil Hunters Find a New Dinosaur Track Site On South Africa's Coast - the Youngest So Far
Southern Africa is world renowned for its fossil record of creatures that lived in the very distant past, including dinosaurs. But, about 182 million years ago, a huge eruption of… Read more »
January 29
Africa: Rafiki Unbanned On Appeal - Why It's an Important Moment for African Film
The film Rafiki is a charming love story that plays out in urban Kenya. It follows two teenage girls whose close friendship slowly turns into first love. Directed by rising… Read more »
Kenya: Banning Rafiki Was Unlawful - Why New Court Ruling Is an Important Moment for African Film
The film Rafiki is a charming love story that plays out in urban Kenya. It follows two teenage girls whose close friendship slowly turns into first love. Directed by rising… Read more »
Africa: What Is Nipah Virus? and What Makes It So Deadly?
An outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in India has put many countries in Asia on high alert, given the fatality rate in humans can be between 40% and 75%. Several countries,… Read more »
Africa: Africa, Rating Agencies and the Cost of Debt
How much we pay for the debt that we incur determines a great deal in our lives. This is true of countries too. In the world of sovereign debt - money raised or borrowed by… Read more »
