Where Betrothal and Betrayal are Decided in a Petri Dish
Marriage in a Tanzanian village hinges on both bride and groom testing negative for HIV. On the western shores of Lake Victoria, in a village in the north of Tanzania, an important social experiment has quietly been taking place for more than a decade.
Walking in the Shadow of Death
While South Africans danced in the streets in 1994, Rwandans were hunting down and killing their neighbours. Ten years on, Luleka Mangquku finds the genocide still haunting the country.
The Beaker is Half-Empty
Poor teaching, insufficient resources beset maths and science education in Africa. Japan, Europe and the US have two to five scientists and engineers per thousand people, according the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation.
No Buts, Hit the Books!
In a South African ghetto, a determined principal drives teachers and students to excel. Early July marks winter break for South African students.
South African Business Marching North: Is there a case for regulation?
The recent announcement by the Minister of Public Enterprises, Jeff Radebe, that the South African government is investigating the option of legislation to regulate the behaviour of South African firms on the continent has resonated throughout the business community.
Lift the Yoke, Uplift the Child
Although most of Africa threw off colonial rule four decades ago, the continent’s education systems still bear the heavy imprint of curricula designed by erstwhile foreign regimes.
Dunces Shall Lead Them
As free primary school swells classrooms, Tanzania deploys severely unqualified educators. Universal primary education has created a deluge of final-year primary school students seeking spots in secondary schools.
Seeding the Harvest
For two years 18 international experts in agricultural sciences and economics considered how to apply science and technology more effectively to respond to the central challenges of farming in Africa, which include: predominance of customary land tenure; lack of functioning competitive markets and politically enabling environments; and inherently poor soil fertility.
Heed Not the Cynics, Africa
Africa, Henry Kissinger writes in his book Does America Need a Foreign Policy?, is destined to become ‘the festering disaster of our age’. In his view, only the ‘moral commitment of the American people and the international community’ can save us from that fate.
The Peas and Potatoes of Economic Stability
In 1980, 133 million people living south of the Sahara faced constant malnutrition.