development

Bernard Kiwia: Technology Innovator on the Ground

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The process of shedding light on the work of Africans in technology innovation, inside Africa, should never stop. It also should never be underestimated.

In modern history, no country has been able to achieve genuine economic and technological transformation without its own people taking the lead. African countries, such as Tanzania, are no exception. When we hear much talk about local capacity building, it should usually mean something like finding talented and skilled natives, like Bernard Kiwia, and assisting them with finding the channels and means to express their creativity; not in a paternalistic way, but in a way of collaboration and cooperation.… More

Perseverant: Tanzanian Rural Women

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It has been said that, “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.”[*] The big generalization in that statement may invite skepticism or dismissal, as it can hardly be applied to any group of human beings in that measure. However that is not the point. That statement does not claim a statistical conclusion, but it brings to attention – albeit in a dramatic way – two interrelated issues:

  • How a large number of women in Africa are impressive hard-workers and entrepreneurs in their own right.
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The Nane-Nane Fair

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Nane-Nane means ‘Eight, Eight’ in Swahili. The date is reserved as ‘farmers’ day’ in Tanzanian calendar, a national holiday to recognize the importance of farmers to Tanzania’s national economy and development. While it is only one day itself, it is accompanied by a one-week fair in the form of agricultural exhibition. The fair is held by multiple zones (e.g. Northern Zone, Lake Zone, Eastern Zone, Southern Zone, etc.)… More

Field Research: Challenges of Entering the Field

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As a student researcher, arriving to a country to do field research is quite a different experience from arriving for a visit of leisure or volunteer, or even for a work contract of some sort. As soon you step foot in the country that is your field, you are mostly your own supervisor. Steps are calculated towards a particular goal (mostly collecting as much relevant and efficient data as possible).… More

Reflecting on “The End of Poverty?”

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“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”
– Nelson Mandela

‘The End of Poverty?’ (with the question mark) is a November 2008-release documentary film that traces the roots of poverty in modern human societies.… More

The Intellectual Needs Society

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There is no doubt, of course, that the knowledge which has been acquired at schools and higher educational institutions can be used almost exclusively for personal gain, with benefit to the society being a mere by-product. Indeed, it sometimes seems that we have organized our societies on this basis, as the temptation of the highest wages is so often connected with the least socially useful occupations.

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Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Friend or Foe?

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The business of national economic development is always multi-faceted with blurry lines, with politics, economics, technology and ecology interacting all the time. There is even a peculiar additional complexity when we deal with strategic national resources such as water. This complexity amplifies when there are other stakeholders to the same resource but outside the national borders. Such, it seems, is the story of the recent Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.… More