For our fellow Diasporans in the UK, you might be interested in checking this out. We got word that FELA! is coming to Sadler’s Wells for a few weeks (July 20 – Aug 28 to be exact). Here’s more information below:

FELA!
Sadler’s Wells
Wednesday 20 July – Sunday 28 August 2011
Performances: Tue – Sun at 7.30pm, Sat & Sun mats at 2.30pm
Tickets: £15 – £50
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300
www.sadlerswells.com

“There should be dancing in the streets. There has never been anything like this.”
- New York Times

Sadler’s Wells’ summer show for 2011 is the Tony Award-winning Broadway dance musical FELA!. A provocative hybrid of dance, theatre and music, exploring the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, the production runs at Sadler’s Wells from 20 July to 28 August 2011.

Leading the cast is Olivier Award-nominated Sahr Ngaujah, who returns to the title role, having garnered acclaim for his portrayal of Kuti in New York and London. Featuring many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T Jones’s visionary staging, FELA! reveals Kuti’s controversial life as an artist and political activist and celebrates his pioneering music.

Recognised as an icon in the international world of rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop, Fela Kuti combined elements of traditional Yoruba, high life and jazz, giving rise to “Afrobeat”. Through his music he condemned military regimes in Nigeria. He was arrested more than 200 times and beaten savagely on many occasions. Despite this he continued to live in Nigeria and produced more than 70 albums during his career.

FELA! was choreographed, directed and co-written (with lyricist Jim Lewis) by Bill T. Jones, a leading light in American contemporary dance. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. The company last performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2004.

Jones’ awards include the 2007 Tony Award, the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening and the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven.

FELA! received its world premiere Off-Broadway in September 2008, where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, before transferring to Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre in November 2009 where its accolades included three 2010 Tony Awards®, for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Design, and an Astaire Award for Bill T. Jones’ choreography.

FELA! is directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, with a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones, and music and lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen Hendel, the design and Tony Award winning costumes are by Marina Draghici, lighting design by Robert Wierzel and the Tony Award winning sound design by Robert Kaplowitz.

FELA! is produced in association with Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glazer, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment and with Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.

“The dancing is ecstatic, the music lifts the spirits and the stage is alive with movement”
- The Guardian

Additional Notes on Fela Kuti and Bill T Jones:

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, north of Lagos in 1938. His father was a Christian schoolmaster, minister and master pianist and his mother was a world-recognised feminist leader, who was very active in the anti-colonial Nigerian women’s movement during the struggle for independence. Educated in Nigeria, and later in London where he studied music, Fela Kuti found his authentic musical voice adding elements of traditional Yoruba, high life and jazz, giving rise to “Afrobeat”. Through his music he condemned military regimes in Nigeria for their mismanagement, and marginalization of the underprivileged. He was subsequently constantly harassed, arrested more than 200 times and beaten savagely on many occasions. Despite this he continued to live in Nigeria and produced in excess of 70 albums of music during his career. He toured the United States and Europe with an entourage of 80 people to public and critical acclaim. He died in August 1997 at the age of 58 from an AIDS-related illness. In Nigeria one million people attended his funeral.

Bill T. Jones won the 2007 Tony Award, the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening. His many awards also include the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship, the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven, the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 2005 Wexner Prize, and the Aaron Davis Hall Harlem Renaissance Award. Before forming Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, Bill T. Jones choreographed and performed nationally and internationally worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company last appeared at Sadler’s Wells in June 2004.

It’s that time of the year again.  When students are looking to find something that’ll keep them busy during the summer months and corporations and foundations are reviewing summer internships applications.  This is the time when international non-profit organisations begin mass campaigns, distributing flyers and trying to recruit students to take advantage of the “amazing opportunity to go build schools in Africa” and then go hiking or spend a few days touring the country and going to the beach. “Here’s your chance to save the world”, they are sometimes sure to add.

While the idea of  contributing to meaningful development sounds amazing, it is important that students are able to distinguish between tourism-based projects centered around a “saving the world narrative” and more concrete projects with more emphasis on the complexities of development work. After spending more than half the year in school, students should be able to engage in intellectual discussions about development projects and not base decisions solely on sentiments.

Before you commit to any school building project, here as some questions you should ask yourself.

Foremost question: What is this really about? Am I looking for a fun and perhaps responsible/honourable way to spend my holidays or am I truly concerned about development and education. If the answer is the former, book a trip to Disneyland or to a famous tourist resort; donate 100 dollars to your favorite charity; tip the housekeeper  at the hotel or the steward at the restaurant. Done and Done!

If the answer is the latter, here are some more questions you should ask yourself:

• Have I read about development and education?
• Do I know the trends- enrollment rate, dropout rate- etc in my destination country?
• What factors affect the ability of students to achieve quality education?

Once these questions have been answered satisfactorily, call the organisation and ask about the problem and challenges  of education  in this region. If you get answers like “children don’t have books and can’t afford to go to school”, ask the representative if these children sit idly at home or if they are employed in some trade elsewhere or some other form of education. Ask how building a school will provide children with books or pay their school fees. Ask how it will provide incentives to go to school for children who have to feed themselves and cater to other family needs.

If s/he says the problem is that the nearest school is miles away and that building a school will ensure that children in the village have access to education, ask him/her whether this issue has been taken to the local authorities in what way civil society is engaging with institutions to demand access to infrastructure. Inquire if the nearest teacher is also miles away and how building a school will provide teachers, desks, books, and an administrative structure that is not only concerned about quantity but about quality and discipline.

Find out how these teachers will be paid. Some schools that are built during these development projects end up lying fallow or being used as storage barns, secret hideouts or for other purposes because there are no teachers and there is no plan to employ any for the long term. But the structure has already been built and the organisation has managed to convince the volunteers that they are heroes and they saved the world with pictures of them accomplishing the feat. If you are told that there are teachers on ground, ask him/her about their qualifications and whether they have already started teaching or tutoring the children in some capacity, or whether they are simply waiting for you to come and build a school.

If the organisation asks you to bring books from America, ask her about the national curriculum, about the prescribed textbooks for the different subjects that are supposed to be offered at the school and why your donated books are better.

The question you must never forget to ask is: “What happened to the locals? Are the youths there useless?” Always  explain that you have no experience whatsoever in building or construction. Ask him/her if there any local builders on ground, and why they can’t be employed instead.  Surely, some of them must be parents and might need those wages to send their children to school and meet other needs. If this school must be built, won’t it be wise to engage the youths in some legal/ community-oriented activity during the holidays? Might this not serve as some sort of apprenticeship or skills-training program? Ask about the consequences of shipping foreigners to  communities to develop them: Has it made the youths overly reliant on foreign aid? Has it left them out of decisions that directly affect them? Make sure the organisation does not portray people on ground as helpless and useless; waiting for your heroic intervention.

If the one-week hike or stay at the beach at the end of your project keeps being mentioned, you can be sure it’s a bait. Any organisation that has projects “tailored to suit your needs” should be asked why it is “your needs” and not local needs that are of primary concern. Find out where your $3000 is going to and how much of it goes back into advertising and running the NGO. Find out how if the employees also participate in this project or merely travel around the world preaching about “amazing opportunities”. At this point, if your questions have not answered satisfactorily, it is clear that his/her organization has not critically thought about education and development and the most effective ways of promoting both in the destination country and that project is not worth committing to.

Here are some other options:

1. Look up other organizations (or research institutes) that are involved in more responsible projects.
2. Look up openings for youth camp counselors or mentors in your area. Find out what local organisations are up to. After all, charity, they say, begins at home.
3. Find out about regional and international conferences, leadership training programs you might be interested in (let’s start acquiring some of the experience you were required to show at that interview).

It’s important to get involved in development causes but many projects have become mass advertising feel-good money-making ventures that send the wrong ideas to students about development. This trend must be not be encouraged. At this point, it is no longer enough to be be doing something for if you’re not doing it right, the consequences might be dire.

For more on international volunteering overseas, read this really funny but insightful piece from cracked.com .

My last couple of blog posts on Project Diaspora have focused on best practices to improve service delivery on the continent and mobile solutions to potentially improve visitors’ experiences when they travel to Africa.

San Bushman man from Botswana. Photo Credit: Ian Beatty from Amherst, MA, USA

As I contemplated this current blog post, I looked through my notes to find an inspiring idea. I wasn’t inspired by any of them. So I revisited a Wikipedia search for Africa, which I recently conducted.  What I found was seemingly pretty basic: history, geography, politics, etc.  What struck me, however, was that the overall entries about contemporary Africa were quite negative in general, supported by images of a San bushman from Botswana, Beja Bedouins from Northeast Africa, a rural woman from Benin and a street musician from South Africa.

Beja Bedouins from Northeast Africa. Photo Credit: I, Jpereira

While none of these photos are particularly derogatory, they fail to accurately reflect what the continent has to offer, in terms of its educated urban population and its market potential.

As a diasporan born in Uganda and raised in New York, this all stirred up negative emotions within.  I grew up in New York during a time when it wasn’t cool to be African and I struggled with my identity, despite having gone to the United Nations International School – a very inclusive and empowering academic institution — and living in a community of mostly multicultural families.  At the time, it was much easier for me to assimilate as an African American (a group with which I still very heavily identify having grown up in the US) trying to bury my “Africanness”.  It’s only when I got to Syracuse University as an undergrad and took a few Africana studies courses that I began to develop pride for my heritage and to seek out additional sources to reinforce that feeling. So while the title of this post is about the kid in Podunk, I believe that what I’m proposing below is important also for the African kid (a) living in the diaspora, (b) who is fortunate enough to access the internet in Africa and even (c) whose friend and can teach him/her about who he/she can become as a result of hearing about his/her fortunate friend’s discovery online.

I must stress that my issue in post isn’t actually with Wikipedia — “a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge.” The question then is “who should bear the responsibility for the inaccurate portrayal of Africa?”  Is it an individual, an organization or African governments?  Who stands to benefits most from a more inclusive and therefore positive branding of Africa?  You may in turn ask “why this is important?”  Well here are my two cents:

Children, the future leaders of the world, are generally quite impressionable.  So what they’re taught as children influences the decisions they make as adults.  Exposure to correct information about Africa would therefore lead them to recognize Africa and Africans are valuable partners in the global economy rather than the current perception of Africa and its people as a lost cause.

Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer and actress who has appeared three times on the cover of US Vogue. Photo Credit: Ed Kavishe, Fashion Wire Press

It’s imperative therefore that Africa and Africans amend the Wikipedia pages on Africa and the African Diaspora, to reflect more inclusive images of Africa and the African Diaspora, given the intrinsic value of the latter both to the continent and the countries where they reside.

Below is a very SMALL sample of diasporans of note who could potentially be spotlighted.  I used the following methodology to find them:

1. I searched Wikipedia for diasporans with whom I am familiar and then used links from their profiles to identify others. I was mindful about the need to reflect talent from the whole continent.
2. I excluded people on the continent making their mark, purely as a means to remain focused on Project Diaspora’s mission: to promote African diaspora engagement in sustainable economic activities within Africa.
3. For simplicity sake, I narrowly defined Diasporans as those who currently reside outside of Africa and who were born in or have parents from Africa.
4. I linked to the Diasporans’ existing Wikipedia pages and grouped each sample according to primary industry.
5. Finally, I used photos from diasporans whose Wikipedia pages had rights-free photographs.

African Diasporans of Note

Arts / Entertainment	Akon || Johannes Anyuru || Michael Blackson || Chiwetel Ejiofor || Idris Elba || Safi Faye || Edi Gathegi || Haile Gerima || Namugenyi Kiwanuka || Boris Kodjoe || Sal Masekela || Peter Mensah || Tom Morello || Ntare Mwine || Thandi Newton       Photo: Thandi Newton, English actress born to Zimbabwean mother and British father. Photo Credit: gdcgraphics”
Education	Ilesanmi Adesida || Kwame Anthony Appiah || Patricia McFadden
Fashion	Amsale Aberra || Ozwald Boateng || Iman || Kiara Kabukuru || Liya Kebede
Financial Services	Mo Ibrahim || Dambisa Moyo || Adebayo Ogunlesi
Journalism	Sade Baderinwa || Ron Mwangaguhunga || Hoda Kotb || Dinaw Mengestu || Adaora Udoji
Politics	Peter Bossman || David Soares
Hospitality Management/Travel	Dorinda Hafner || Marcus Samuelsson         Photo: Marcus Samuelsson, Ethiopian-born Swedish chef and co-owner of Aquavit and Red Rooster restaurants in New York City and C-House Restaurant, located in the Affinia Hotel in Chicago. Photo Credit: Tduk Alex Lozupone”
Religion	Rev. Peter Gomes* || Archbishop John Sentamu
Science & Technology	Kwatsi Alubaruho || Cheick Modibo Diarra || Chinedu Echeruo || Gebisa Ejeta || Ave Kludze || Noah Samara || Window Snyder
Sports	John Amaechi || Kelenna Azubuike || Yinka Dare || Obinna Ekezie || James Ihedigbo || Ruth Kasirye || Mathias Kiwanuka || Dikembe Mutombo || Emeka Okafor || Hakeem Olajuwon || Betty Okino       Photo: Dikembe Mutombo, retired Congolese American professional basketball player, who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Photo Credit: Keith Allison”

In conclusion, while Wikipedia is a great tool for cataloguing a part of Africa’s reality through its Africa and African Diaspora pages, they need to project the other side of the story.  The basis for this is currently available as individual dots on the Wikipedia site.  What’s needed is for these dots to be connected and given a little bit of context to make it easy for a kid anywhere in the world to access a more inclusive picture about Africa.  I am pleased to note that individual Africans including: Mo Ibrahim, G. Kofi Annan, Sophie Bekele, Ida Horner, Mariéme Jamme, Sheila Ochugboju, Emeka Okafor, Alex Okosi and Joshua Wanyama , are some of the many already working towards the rebranding of the continent.

My hope is that this post will inspire others to join this vital effort.  I welcome any feedback or suggestions for other Diasporans or Diaspora-related items to feature.

Please feel free to connect with me:
Twitter || LinkedIn || Facebook || Email || Amazing Taste Website

*Rev. Peter Gomes passed away on February 28, 2011

Here is an opportunity that I think someone in the UK Diaspora might be interested in. Have a read on the details and apply if you are so qualified. This looks like a great opportunity to learn more about the activities of the Diaspora. Take note of the deadline for submitting applications: February 14, 2010.

Comic Relief is inviting tenders from interested parties to undertake a review of the literature on the African Diaspora based in the UK and their role in international development.

Expressions of interest should be sent to:  Rupal Mistry atr.mistry@comicrelief.com no later than 14 February 2010.

Purpose and Objective

The primary objective of this consultancy is to provide Comic Relief with a detailed picture of the research undertaken and literature published to date on the African Diaspora in the UK and their role in international development in sub-Saharan Africa.

This consultancy will enable Comic Relief to build a picture of the international development activities of the African Diaspora in the UK and will feed into other elements of the Common Ground Initiative, in particular the communications and advocacy and influencing work. It is intended that this work will form the first phase of a longer study and will provide the basis for the commissioning of a series of more focused studies.

Methodology

The work will be desk based. The consultant will review research and latest evidence from academic, political and non-government sectors, synthesise and critique the findings, and highlight areas requiring further investigation. It is also suggested that the consultant hold short interviews with key informants to build up an understanding of the anecdotal evidence within the sector of the role played by the UK based African Diaspora in international development.

Areas to be explored through the literature review:

• The different ways in which the African Diaspora in the UK are organised, grouped, clustered or networked and whether or not there are any similarities in approaches to development based on typology
• The kind of development related activities African Diaspora in the UK are engaged in – thematic areas of implementation, e.g. remittance, business, service delivery (health, education etc), and the different approaches being used
• The scale of this activity – local or community based, district, national,  and specific regions across the continent
• The ways in which they are working with communities in Africa – the types of relationships they build
• The level of engagement that the African Diaspora in the UK groups or individuals have with other stakeholders, communities in the UK and Africa, other NGO’s, governments, policymakers
• Examples of best international practice – in terms of relationships, activities, governance
• The level of interest, engagement and support of politicians and policymakers in relation to the “Diaspora and Development” agenda
• Any specific policy- level changes (both in the UK and in Africa) driven by the African Diaspora based in the UK
• The type of funding that UK based Diaspora entities have accessed

Deliverables

A detailed literature review report (maximum 30 pages, plus executive summary and annexes) structured as:

• Executive summary of key findings and recommendations
• Methodology
• Key Findings –in relation to areas to be explored, what is known, ongoing research  and donor initiatives
• What don’t we know: information and research gaps,  differences of opinion/ current debates
• Implications for Comic Relief and its stakeholders
• Conclusions and recommendations – summary of findings, suggested further actions for donors, practitioners and researchers
• Appendices – List of articles and reports reviewed

The Consultant should submit the final report in both hard copy and electronic versions.

Timeframe

The consultancy will take place between March and May 2011. The draft report should be received by Comic Relief within 30 working days of the commencement of the consultancy with an additional month to receive comments and finalise the report.

Required qualifications and skills

Contractors would need to have:

• Ideally a postgraduate level qualification in relevant discipline
• An understanding of migration and international development
• Experience of working with BME communities in the UK
• Good analytical skills and attention to detail
• Ability to communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing

Comic Relief is committed to diversity in all of our contracts and tenders. The successful contractor will be expected to uphold the principles of respect and open engagement throughout their work with us.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Project Diaspora Presents VIA: VILLAGES IN ACTION CONFERENCE sponsored by Business Fights Poverty and Orange Uganda.

Project Diaspora is dedicated to change perceptions about the poor by building a platform whereby the voices of the poor can be heard. On November 27, 2010, the first conference will be held in a village outside Masindi, Uganda. The goal of this one-day conference is to showcase the grassroots efforts driving economic development and improving the welfare of the community – all with little or no assistance from international aid organizations.

In September 2010, international organizations, heads of state, celebrities and specialists gathered to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As you may know, the MDGs were set in 2000 to achieve eight anti-poverty goals by 2015. In the midst of the coverage of these grand events, the actual “poor,” (the object of these goals) were not invited to these elite events.

The keynote speech will be delivered by the village’s LC1 chairwoman, Milly Businge. Mrs. Businge represents this village of 270 homesteads and just over 1000 people. Her keynote will revolve around the development springing up due to the shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming of sugar cane. Kikuube’s first hardware shop was opened by an enterprising young woman who identified an opportunity and now has a thriving business.

Most of the presenters and panelists will be from the village itself, mixed in with local subject-specific experts and practitioners from the technology, education and community health fields of practice here in Uganda.

The conference is title sponsored by Business Fights Poverty and Orange Uganda. Business Fights Poverty, a network that connects practitioners and experts around the world to push the boundaries of how business can fight poverty, is facilitating the day’s events. Orange Uganda, provider of Uganda’s largest 3G network, will power the live video stream.

This ground-breaking conference brings together over 500 members of the Kikuube community, community leaders, development practitioners, who will interact with a global audience connected to the conference through Twitter, Facebook, the live video stream and live blogs. Anyone in the world with a broadband connection can watch the live stream on the Business Fights Poverty homepage; the Villages in Action homepage. Follow the conference on Twitter using the #via2010 hashtag, and on the Project Diaspora Facebook page.

About Project Diaspora
Project Diaspora (PD) is a USA-based organisation established in September 2007 with a simple mission—to promote African Diaspora engagement in sustainable economic activities within Africa. PD actively seeks to mobilize, engage, and motivate members of the African Diaspora to participate in Africa’s economic, social, and cultural renaissance. Looking beyond the $40 billion in annual remittances to the continent, the strongest resources the African Diaspora possess are its vast wealth of knowledge, technical expertise and professional network. Africa’s Diaspora is well positioned to become a major developmental force. In light of their cultural and personal ties to their home communities there is no other single group that is better equipped to generate positive, sustained change across the continent.

About Business Fights Poverty
Business Fights Poverty in a free-to-join global community of professionals passionate about fighting world poverty through good business.  Business Fights Poverty connects over 10,000 people from 150 countries through its online network (www.businessfightspoverty.org), its communities on Twitter (@FightPoverty), Facebook and LinkedIn, and through physical events.  Community members come from a diverse range of business, government and civil society backgrounds to share experience and good practice – collectively pushing the boundaries of how business can fight poverty.  We believe that we can achieve more together – by harnessing our collective intelligence and energy – than we can alone.

About Orange Uganda
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With more than 131 million customers, the Orange brand covers internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of 2009, France Telecom had sales of 44.8 billion euros (33.7 billion euros for the first nine months of 2010). At 30 September 2010, the Group had a total customer base of 203 million customers in 32 countries. These include 144.5 million mobile customers and 13.3 million broadband internet (ADSL, FTTH) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

With its industrial project, “conquest 2015″, Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group’s ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development

France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information (on the internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv

Contact:
TMS Ruge
Co founder – Project Diaspora
Teddy@projectdiaspora.org
+256 792 134 655

###

Last year I was giving a talk in DC. On the way to the venue, I was given a ride to the train station by this Zambian driver. He came to the US as a diplomat and now is working as a driver for the hotel in the DC area. This is one example of what Richard Cambridge, VP of the African Diaspora Program at The World Bank, would call “brain waste.” I didn’t get the driver’s name, but in my short conversation (and I don’t remember how I thought to record his nuggets of wisdom) I came away richly rewarded with insight on life, Africa and our future. It was one of the most rewarding taxi rides of my life. I didn’t get to record the whole conversation, but the little two-minute clip that I did record is worth a listen and worth pondering in the big picture.

“The young trees which are growing will be the forests of the future,” he says. “Who is going to take over from us. For us we are tree which are already old. Who is going to take over as an account… who is going to take over?”

In the span of those few minutes, I was struck by his truth, and his genuine concern for the future of Africa. Those who come here [ in the West ] to pursue a better life, but wasted the opportunity by being distracted from the goal depleted our future forest of trees of knowledge. On a continent of a billion people and counting, we need as many trees of knowledge as the forest can hold, and not simply for the benefit of the environment either.

Tanzania is a country which lies on the eastern part of Africa just below the equator. Its population is over 30 million people. It became independent on 9th December 1961 from British colonial rule. The education provided by the colonial government in our country had a different purpose. It was not designed to prepare young people for service of their own country; instead it was motivated by desire to inculcate the values of the colonial society and to train them for the service of colonial state. During colonial rule, many schools were racially or religiously segregated, emphasized British values, and there was little emphasis on educating local children. Very few local children were in school. With the arrival of independence in 1961, many schools were built by missionaries. Still, very few children were able to join those schools.

In 1967, The Late President Julius Nyerere launched The Arusha Declaration and policy on socialism and self-reliance; the principles being:

1. That all human beings are equal;
2. That every individual has a right to dignity and respect;
3. That every citizen is an integral part of the nation and has the right to take an equal part in government at local, region and national level.
4. That every citizen has the right to freedom of expression, of movement and of religious belief. (just few to mention)

Government decided to take over all the schools, hospitals and other major services from private institutions and individuals. Private schools and hospitals were even outlawed. His aim was centralization to ensure everyone had equal access to these basic social services. Though primary education became nearly universal in our country, unfortunately, many years of poverty and inflation made it impossible for the government to maintain a high standard of education for every child. After some years, the standard of education dropped. I wanted to make it clear that The Late President Julius Nyerere had good intentions & even some good results, even though the final outcomes didn’t succeed.

In 1990s the government decided to allow the private sector to come back and give the services as before. It was too late, though, to cater to the problem quickly. Here are few reasons for the poor performance of education sector in Tanzania though the system is good:

• Overcrowding: The number of schools in Tanzania is very few compared to the number of children who are supposed to join schools. This causes a classroom to accommodate many kids compared to its capacity. One classroom in public schools accommodates 80 to 120 children with only one teacher. Even if a teacher is good, it’s impossible to produce good products.At our school, we control the number of students in each class, and build a good work environment, so that teachers can do a good job .The Tanzania’s Ministry of Education allows a class to have not more than 45 children. We adhere this rule and; in addition, in our preschool classrooms, we have assistant teachers to help manage younger students.
• Expensive but Low-Quality Private Schools: Most of the private schools charge highly. Unfortunately, other private schools are there to make money and not to offer high quality education. Many just have good buildings and offer good food but they provide a low standard of education.At our school, tuition is very low when compared with many private schools. In addition, we use income from paying students to provide free and reduced-cost education to many children at our school, including orphans and other children who could not otherwise afford a high-quality education.
• Insufficient Books & Supplies: This is a major problem to most of the schools in Tanzania. In public schools, the Government provides books to teachers and can’t give to pupils. The parents can’t afford buying the books. Children end up listening to teachers and have no books to reference. Due to the poverty problem, many parents can’t afford even to buy other learning materials. Some students miss school because they don’t have exercise books, mathematical sets and sometimes things like school uniforms, shoes or bags. In public school even the low school fees of Tshs. 20000 (~ $20 USD) per year is a problem to others.At our school, I always buy books for teachers and a few to support students who can’t get books especially orphans. Other children, the parents have to buy for them. Our school library, which is under construction, will give chance to all children to have wide range of books and other materials for their studies.
• Inadequate Technology: There is no modern technology equipment in most of the schools. The world now is like a village. Children need to know much about what’s going on in other places. Even to learn so many things from the computers/internet is very important. Very few schools have even a single computer for office work. Computers here are very expensive so only schools which charge very expensive fees can afford to buy computers for children to use.At our school, computer lessons are conducted in classes from class 3 upwards, including lessons on the internet. Our class 6 students are even called the TwitterKids of Tanzania for their use of Twitter. The technology lab is under construction too which will provide a classroom for technology learning and provide us with more security for our computers. I’m glad our school got computers and internet access through the efforts of US nonprofit, Epic Change.
• Communication Barriers: All public primary schools teach in Kiswahili but when they join secondary school, they are taught every subject in English except Kiswahili subject. This causes many children to fail understanding what teachers are teaching. The outcome is low performance.At our school, all classes are taught in English from the time students are in preschool when they are young and can learn the language quickly. Of course, we also teach our national language, Kiswahili, so all our students are bilingual and, once they are prepared for secondary school, will be able to fully participate in their classes.
• AIDS: This disease has left so many children with no place to stay, no food, no education and so many other problems.At our school, we offer free education, meals and shelter to our students who have lost their parents to AIDS. We hope to be able to offer this to even more children in our community as our partner, Epic Change, works to build a dormitory to house up to 50 students on our school campus. Our plan is to build a home for children at our school to cater problem of orphans and needy children moving from relatives’ houses day after day, which affects their good performance. Epic Change has raised USD $16,830+ so far for this purpose.
• Limited Government Investment to Expand Private Education Innovations: There is no budget from the government to support private schools. This is a big problem. We would like to tackle many things to reduce problems in this sector of education. I am certain improvements in education would be a source of solving many problems in our country which are caused by ignorance.Problems with School Transport: Many children are walking long way to/from schools. Others are walking 1 to 2 hours just to reach the school. Others who are lucky, parents are giving them bus fare to board public buses. Unfortunately, during peak hours, the buses do not allow children to board their buses, saying they pay too little bus fare. So they reach at school/home very late, and this causes low performance for many children.At our school, we have school buses which shuttle kids to and from school to give them good harmony for learning. They don’t get tired before or after their studies because of the long journey.
• Freedom in Learning: In government schools, both culturally and because other materials than the teacher aren’t widely available, the teacher is viewed and respected as the only way to get knowledge from. Children are encouraged to memorize and repeat what they are taught. Corporal punishment is common when students don’t comply. This situation, hinder creativity, critical and independent thinking among our students.In our classrooms, especially as students are beginning to access knowledge and, in some cases, master new technology even more quickly than their teachers, we are beginning to evolve toward an environment where students and teachers are learning with and from one another. Children are also starting to blog & tweet their opinions, and complete independent projects. This is a significant cultural change for our community, however, and will take time. I am totally opposing the corporal punishment for children at my school, and believe that the loving environment we cultivate at our school represents a significant difference from other local schools as well.
• Provision of Lunch at Schools: Most of the public schools and even other private schools do not provide lunch to children and teachers. This causes many children and teachers to perform poorly.At my school, we provide porridge/tea at 10am and lunch to children and staff of our school. This has been one of secret of our good performance and having happy children.
• Parental Involvement: In some schools, parents are not involved in anything concerning school development. No meetings with parents to discuss anything. This hinders the closeness and quick development of most schools.At our school, we have a very active parents committee that supports our school in many ways, including fundraising, policy changes and more. At our last parents meeting, hundreds of parents attended for several hours and actively participated in discussion about fees, meals, books and other important subjects.

When I started our school in 2003, I aimed on giving good education to my students, and I shared above what I’m doing to make this possible. I’m glad that the children of my school are performing well. On our most recent class 4 national exams (late last year) our school scored #2 out of 123 schools in our District. This gives me hope that we’ll create change in our community and positive outcomes for our students.

Last year I engaged in a very interesting e-mail discussion with friends from around the world. It all started with CNBC’s show “Dollars & Danger: Africa, The Final Investing Frontier”

The show could have used some work with the way it was edited and as an African I wanted to see my continent portrayed in a better fashion. The sad fact is that while Africa is a continent filled resources galore from our vast mineral wealth to fertile soils and warm hearted people, we find ourselves relegated to a third world status – with many of the poorest countries in the world. So we ask ourselves, “Why does Africa appear to have missed out on developing?” and “What will it take for us to ‘catch up’ with the rest of the world?”

After a long discourse it boiled down to two main items, a good education for all and effective policy that works.

The fact that 45% of Africa’s sub Sahara population is under 15 years old must raise a red flag in ones mind. Imagine what Africa could be if the next generation of Africa is educated in a new way; one in which a new breed of problem solving Africans is created, with tools needed to think critically and meet our problems head on with home grown solutions. This could be and should be our new future!

There is an old British saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Likewise, we need to start with a clean slate, with the young pure and unadulterated minds of our three to six year olds. Educators and scientists tell us that our character is formed at a very early age; by the time one is six or seven their temperament is set. That’s why we need to start early. We all know how innately curious young two and three years olds are, engineering educators say that we “beat” the engineering out of our children when we fail to satiate their curiosity and teach them how to channel it constructively. A paradigm shift in our approach to education is called for, one in which our children’s minds will continuously be challenged to come up with creative solutions to problems with real life applications. Whatever is learned or dreamed up needs to be proved not only theoretically but also practically in the “real” world.

The East African Community (Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) has entered into a partnership with the nonprofit OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), they plan to equip each primary school student in East Africa with a laptop by 2015! The estimated number for computers for this is 30 million and at $250 each the cost for this will be around 7.5 billion USD. This is a bold initiative by the East African Community that should be backed up by a new syllabus that is appropriate and relevant for this day and age. OLPC’s press release last month included the following statement from Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the nonprofit.

“OLPC’s partnership with the East African Community represents another significant step toward a world in which every child has access to a world-class education, to the world’s body of knowledge, and to each other,” Negroponte said. “The East African Community is dedicating itself not simply to One Laptop per Child, but to a world in which the children become agents of change – making things, teaching each other and their families and affecting the social development of their community.”

The laptops alone will not save our educational program. They come equipped with tailor made educational material and thousands of textbooks, which is good, but we need to insure that a new syllabus is created to go along with the OLPC initiative that focuses on encouraging creativity and developing problem solving skills. Intel has a K12 program, which employs such a syllabus. We should take advantage and make use of emerging fields like Engineering Education, which focuses on addressing the way children are educated. Such bold initiatives need to be adopted all across the continent for there is no better investment that a people can make like investing in their children for they are our future.

This new breed of Africans of well-educated people will be able to fashion policy that works and serves us well. The Ghanaian economist Dr. George Ayittey calls them the “http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html” fast-moving, entrepreneurial leaders and citizens who will rebuild Africa. The new Africa will be not only be well educated, but will also know how to think. It’s one thing to teach pupils how to memorize dates and stuff but another to engage and mold young minds in a fashion that enables them to have independent thought, to be innovative and creative. Only then will we be able to come up with new ways and solutions to address the problems that we face today and become serious players on the world stage.

The interventions needed for Africa are not simple nor one sided. Only a holistic approach will work. So when a call for educational reform rings out, we should not forget about those already in the system. Their needs must be addressed as well with adult education classes and trade skills that will enable them to contribute meaningfully to society and support themselves. Corruption that is endemic in many African countries must be addressed at the root. A well-informed population that exercises it’s right to be governed well is a good start. It won’t solve all the problems we have overnight like water & food security, health issues and poverty and it’s related problems but will provide our people with the tools they need to create solutions to address them. An inscription on the first public library in the USA (the Boston Public Library) reads, “The Commonwealth Requires The Education Of The People As The Safeguard of Order And Liberty”. We need good quality education for all in Africa as it will serve as a safeguard to order and liberty and will enable us to rapidly develop our communities.

The second item Policy can have far reaching and more immediate effect. Our leaders and lawmakers need to formulate better and more effective policy, which must be grounded in a firm understanding of the issues at hand, it needs to be realistic in relation to our given set of circumstances. The economist Paul Collier in his book the bottom billion argues for improved trade policies to help the poorest countries. We also need good internal policies to run our countries well.

Another economist Hernando de Soto in his book “The Mystery of Capitalism: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else” says:

property only becomes useful capital when it is legally recognized by a formal legal system, since it is only when it is formally titled that its potential can be harnessed for loans, taxes, and security.

As De Soto traces the development of the US economy, it becomes apparent that American economic stability and growth only flourished once the majority of its citizens achieved property rights and were integrated into a legal titling system.

This is a good example of how legislation that provided strong property rights enabled nations like the USA to develop. We all know that we need to have the rule of law for they’re to be justice and peace in our land. However, we also need good laws and good policies for us to abide by. Poor policy is detrimental to our development and therefore does not serve us well even though it’s adhered to strictly.

It is refreshing to note that our governments are starting to realize the importance of good legislation that protects local and foreign investments. As African countries work to lure investors to our lands we are challenged by investors to have strong property rights to protect their investments. Tanzania is in the process of working to use investment bonds to fund massive infrastructure project like a multi-billion dollar railway line to Rwanda. A limitation to this and other international investment is their weak legislation. Minister Kawambwa recently said:

“We need legislation that protects somebody’s investment. If you don’t have the requisite legislation, then the risk levels are high and it is very difficult to attract someone to come and invest,” Strong policy that protects people’s property rights is needed to encourage and protect our investments both local and foreign.

When we have addressed education adequately, we will then be in position to write good policies and laws for our land. This will provide a conducive environment for us to develop socially, politically and economically. Our prosperity will then serve as our defense against anarchy as we will all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

What’s proposed here is not a simplistic solution to the multitude of problems that face many African countries today, but I believe that good education for all and strong effective policy that works will provide us with a good solid foundation to build a better Africa.

Women of Kireka: School Fees Fundraiser Project Diaspora is in the middle of raising funds to help keep 58 kids in school as part of our Women of Kireka project in Kireka, Uganda. This year’s remaining budget is $4,000 to pay for second and third terms of 2010. You can donate by clicking the Paypal donate button in the sidebar

The time has come to raise funds to keep the children of the Women of Kireka in school. We raised enough money in our last fundraiser to keep them in school through the first term of 2010. However now the 2nd and 3rd terms must be addressed as well. There are currently 58 children enrolled in school and we are raising the funds with a combination of sales of the beads made by the women and donations. We have been covering our work with the women here on the blog for quite some time. So if you are a regular reader you know the story, however if you are not here is a quick recap:

One of our projects involves a fantastic group of women who were displaced during the war in Northern Uganda and fled to a town called Kireka outside the capital city of Kampala. They live in what is called an IDP camp (internally displaced persons) and work in the rock quarry there. For the last year or more we have been working with them to transition them out of the quarry an into more profitable and safer work. We currently have a team of interns working with them on job skills training, business training, working to get them counseling and health services and more. Just this week we were able to get them a small two room office, where they can meet and get training. Their ultimate goal is to create beautiful handmade crafts. They are currently making jewelry and will begin their training as seamstresses very soon. So it has been a very exciting time.

However in the midst of all of this it is time again to raise money for the children’s school fees. This year we are looking at a total of $4000 that needs to be raised. This will cover cost of school for 58 children through the end of the year. I will have a small quantity of necklaces made by the women for sale, the proceeds of which will go to the school fees. I expect to receive that shipment any day. Donations are also welcome in any amount via paypal.

Here are a few links that you may find interesting!

Three Days Earnings

Last Year’s Fundraiser, with videos!

A Conversation with Grace Lamono

An Intern’s Story

Although I have not been around that long, it seems like the debate over foreign aid has been at the centre of discussions about international development. Amidst this brouhaha about whether or not foriegn aid is good for development, I seek to raise a different question, is aid is central to development?

I think not. At least not in its current state.

This is particularly surprising because given my background, I should be heads over heels in love with aid.

I am one of aid’s children.

I attended Loyola Jesuit College, a Jesuit high school in Nigeria that was funded by the USAID and the New York Diocese of the Catholic Church. Judging mostly from my present circumstances, it clearly hasn’t done the worst job of providing for Nigerians like me, education and oppurtunity.

But then here is the point where the tingly feeling of anecdotal evidence must bow to the cold and hard facts.

Aid has not contributed enormously to economic growth, especially in Africa.

Even by the freindliest estimates, aid’s dissappointing impact has meant that it will take aid worth 10% of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to raise economic growth by 1% per year on average. To put that in context, this means it will take it will take another another $814 billion worth of aid over 55 years for sub Saharan Africa to grow to the 7% it needs to fulfill its millennium development goals.

I doubt these are the kind of results today’s many development experts would consider to be performance worthy of their time, resources and efforts.

More interestingly, it makes me wonder, why is aid still at the center of the development discourse? Especially when it must resort to petty aid/no aid binary arguments to make its point.

Allow me to venture one answer I have borrowed from respected academic, Alex De Waal, “aid is essentially, a western, Anglo-Saxon model of charitable endeavor that is being imposed on the rest of the world” . The truth is that because aid remains the west’s logical response to development, the entire discussion surrounding it is really not about what it contributes to actual development that it is about the fact that the west simply wishes to contribute to development in some manner, whether or not it is helpful.

It was not till I had sat through my first series of International Development classes that I realized this.

That class, filled with young, blue eyed Canadians looking to “change the world”, it seemed to me, was the wrong context for discussing any country’s international development. Indeed, there is no how, a classroom of 100 Canadian youngsters learning of foreign places into which they would be air dropped in their last year for a credit or two could be a more effective tool for development than the 6.2 million young people currently studying at sub par higher institutions across Africa.

But does this all matter to aid? Well, no.

Through that semester, as I listened to my teacher’s exaltations of micro-credit, negligent of the destruction high interest rates had caused it to wrought or idealistically championing of “cheap” agricultural technologies whose prices move quickly out of the farmer’s reach once the “resourceful” NGO’s grants and subsidies end, I became more convinced of the fact that international development has become all about how kind westerners could help poor countries whether or not in fact they actually can.

I call it, the “aid and development industrial complex”. It’s business? Manufacturing problems in the developing world that the developed world can feel good about “solving”.

Now do not get me wrong. I will be the first to admit that there remain certain cases where without such good natured generosity, whole peoples would have died and countless futures would not shine so bright. However, the west cannot in good conscience place its need for the self gratitude that comes from unsustaibable giving ahead of the interests of the developing world.

If aid must remain relevant to development, it must stop being so self-absorbed in all its imagined importance and listen more. More importantly, it should increase the capacity of their African counterparts to identify and solve their own problems. The current system where African higher education receives little or no support while universities in the west launch multi-million dollar “Development Research Centres” they don’t need is not only clearly unsustainable, but highly self serving.  It pushes an imperialistic mindset that allows western institutions to serve as command centres for Africa’s economic and political systems without the proper context and it leaches Africa’s best academic minds, leaving young Africans not fortunate enough to afford an expensive international education largely clueless and underesourced with respect to international development issues in their own countries.

“International Development” must in taking stock ask itself the important question:
Should international development teach developing countries to help themselves or should it, help developing countries to learn themselves?

I hope the field answers this question honestly. So that when I must obtain from a reputable university, my masters degree in International Development, there will be reason enough for me to be resident in Nairobi,  not New York.

Iyinoluwa “E” Aboyeji is a nineteen year old Nigerian junior at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Born and raised in Nigeria, he left his home in the Niger Delta to pursue an education abroad at age sixteen. Mr Aboyeji has worked with a number of local and international organisations most notably the World Youth Alliance, an international youth advocacy organisation with a permanent presence at the United Nations. He is currently the President of Imprint Publications, one of Canada’s largest student Newspapers where he also writes a weekly column called “E is for Error”. He also serves as Vice President (Projects) of the African Students Association at the University of Waterloo and Fundraising Manager of Harambe Africa. He is very interested in international development, economics, post secondary education and African political and philosophical issues. Unlike most other young people his age, this nerdy dude likely lacks sleep – and ofcourse, a normal life. Unreasonable as it may seem, his dream is to be a tenured professor at a reputable university before he is age twenty-five. (Photo by: Jonathan Menon)

African Union to host ‘Building and maintaining peace and security through sports’ workshop in Addis Ababa on Africa Day (May 25th 2010)

Event: ‘Building and Maintaining Peace and Security through Sports’ Workshop
Date: 25th May 2010
Venue: African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Time: From 10.00am

Among those Attending the event will be:

The event is the latest in a series of fora across Africa to promote the African Union Year of Peace and Security. The workshop will provide information and share experiences on the role of sports in peace and security, as well as explore the opportunities presented by the Year of Peace and Security to further enhance the use of sports in peace-building both in 2010 and beyond.

The workshop will be held alongside other events including the Peace and Security Operations Division exhibition, Photo exhibition and the official flagging-off ceremony of the “Peace Journey”: an expedition across Africa aimed at creating awareness and spreading the message of peace amongst African citizens.

The Year of Peace and Security peaks on Peace Day, 21 September 2010, a day focussed on promoting non-violence and humanitarian assistance across Africa. All Year of Peace and Security activities build up to and follow on from Peace Day.

More about The African Union Year of Peace and Security
On 31 August 2009, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), meeting in Tripoli, on the occasion of the Special Session on the Consideration and Resolution of Conflicts in Africa, declared 2010 to be the Year of Peace and Security on the continent; proclaiming in paragraph 9 of the Tripoli Declaration:

“We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflicts and violence on our continent, acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people, and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. We, as leaders, simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans”.

During the AU Summit held in Addis Ababa in January 2010, all 53 African Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to the Tripoli Declaration and the objectives of the Year of Peace and Security in Africa.
The overarching message for The Year of Peace and Security in Africa is Make Peace Happen.

Correct me if I am wrong, but when did April become the official month of the idiot “do gooder” patrol? Not one day after the one year anniversary of Ashton Kutcher‘s popularity contest to cure malaria, comes this brilliant idea by another entrepreneur way out of his league. The 1 Million T-shirts campaign aims to collect and “send 1 million t-shirts to the people of Africa.” You know, those poor 1 billion shirtless inhabitants of the world’s only dark continent.

Quick! Send in your discarded Star Wars souvenir shirts before someone dies!! If you are feeling bold, how about envisioning that extra poser Abercrombie and Fitch shirt in the back of your closet on the back of an unsuspecting Kenyan.

This is a marketing gimmick from the word go. Not .25 seconds into his promotional video, Jason Sadler, the brainchild behind this campaign, throws out a not-so subtle marketing pitch for his other company, iwearyour.com. Kudos for self-promotion, but come-on, seriously. We are not that stupid.

Sigh.

I, I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I mean, really? Out of all the problems plaguing Africa, shirtless kids running around in tropical weather isn’t a global crisis! And don’t get me started on the gratuitous use of poverty porn in your video. Did you get permission to use the individuals in those photos for your own self-promotion? No? How about the permission of the parents? No? Mr. Sadler, do you even know, where on the map of Africa where those photos were taken? And what exactly qualifies you to be the spokesperson for Africa’s shirtless victims, may I ask? Wait, have you EVER been to Africa? Or you just talked to somebody who’s talked to somebody who read about it on wikipedia?

We don’t need half-baked charity. Clue: we actually buy these shirts for cheap. Therein feeding an entire ecosystem of vendors and suppliers who rely on us to do just that. Buying these shirts puts food on their table and a shirt on our back. Spending six figures to send 1 million shirts to East Africa puts an untold number of used clothing entrepreneurs out of business. Are you going to start a new campaign to send them food now that you have reduced their earning potential?

Let’s also have a conversation of perpetuating dependency on others to provide for us. The more half-baked solutions under the guise of “trying to help” that are lobbed at Africa, the less we are at arming ourselves with home grown solutions. The minute we start to get on our feet in any particular sector, some celebrity dead-brain decides — on their own — that Africa needs our dire help!! We were well on our way to a thriving industry growing our own raw materials for the production of anti-malarials before Bill Gates decided that synthesizing in China and importing the drugs would be beneficial to everyone. He single-handedly buried Kenya’s artemisin industry, putting thousands out of work.

Here’s a better idea, why don’t you take those 1 million shirts and ship them to Hello Rewind. Now here’s a company with sustainability and a social mission all in one. They take used t-shirts and employ former sex workers to sew laptop sleeves they can sell. This is called creating industries. This is how your help Africa Mr. Sadler, by creating economies instead of imploding them. Exactly what are poor Africans to do when your 1 million shirts wear out? Do you have a bat phone they can call so you can ramp up another shirt campaign? Relegate donation campaigns to disaster relief. As an entrepreneur, I am flummoxed why you couldn’t figure this out. Oh right, you did – self-promotion. Brilliant.

Here is another idea you completely overlooked for some reason. Why not actually BUY t-shirts from Africa that you can print your client logos on so you can wear them daily for a fee? See that? A win-win solution that creates more entrepreneurs than it destroys. This is how you help Africa.

For more ideas, check out Texas in Africa‘s post for on how to help and by all means, respond to Siena Anstis‘s open letter on the matter. And for Godsake, please educate yourself thoroughly lest you come across as some neo-colonialist do-gooder who thinks Africa can’t do for its own.

A week ago, team PD had the pleasure of being invited to attend a rare US performance by one of our favorite Ugandan musicians, Maurice Kirya. It was an intimate performance in Denton, TX, home of the music factory known as the University of North Texas, responsible for the careers of such crooners as Norah Jones and Harry Connick, Jr. The performance – in Art Six Cafe’s outdoor patio, kicked off with a number of opening acts including Amanda Mutamba Muhunde‘s spoken word and a rare acoustic set from Every Explosive Ending. A very fitting environment for Maurice’s jazzy and soulful sound.

After the concert, I caught up with Maurice outside one of Denton’s most famous watering holes (oh the memories!). We waxed poetic about the state of Ugandan music, Maurice’s unique twist on Ugandan soul, and his one-man mission to tell the world that Uganda is ready to stop onto the global music stage. Maurice also echoed what I have always believed to be true, that we as Africans need to start to take to the microphones and tell the good news about Africa. It is not always cloudy and full of doom and gloom on our continent. We need to shine light on the other side of the coin that is this magnificent continent.

I am sure there are other individuals out there spreading the good news on Africa. Soon enough our voices will merge into one beautiful chorus of good news. Let’s hope this is sooner rather than later.

For more on Maurice, you can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter and his website, which has some audio samples from his latest CD. Additionally, don’t forget to check out his Youtube channel for some of his videos. I’ve also uploaded some photos I took at the performance.

Amanda Mutamba Muhunde moves an audience with her spoken word

This past weekend, we attended Maurice Kirya’s performance in Denton, TX. Among the opening acts was a poetic by the name of Amanda Mutamba Muhunde. Her first poem, which was dedicated to raising awareness to the often glossed over victims of rape  in Africa’s many civil strifes, was shockingly raw, powerful, emotional and graphically detailed. Amanda pulls no punches in raising your conscious a notch or two as she lyrically details a woman’s account of her own rape, and her unfulfilled wish to no longer breath after the incident. Amanda skillfully walks you through the victim’s realization that even at the worst of it, there is purpose in the victim still having a voice and daring anyone who will listen to spread her story of pain, struggle and survival.

Here’s to us doing just that, and calling for other members of Africa’s Diaspora to no longer be quiet to the injustices belaboring our continent. Let’s speak up, and spread the word. They may only be words, but words can lead to a chorus for change, a chorus for change can lead to action, and action almost always leads to a sea change. Let’s all sustain the call for change. If you do feel so inclined, please feel free to post this video, which was captured by our very own Tracy Pell at the performance, on your site, your Facebook page or spread it own Twitter. One, because I feel that Amanda deserves a much bigger audience, and 2) the victims or rape the world over, not just Africa, deserve justice and a global response. Please do your part.

My encounter with Amos last December offered me an opportunity to take a critical look at how development projects affect communities. I discovered that there’s always going to be someone left out in the cold, sitting outside the fringes of your project’s target audience. It’s not done on purpose, and it’s most certainly not done out of malice. Siena Anstis—who originally introduced PD to the Women of Kireka back in September of last year—simplified it for me when I told her how frustrating this realization was for me, “you can’t help everybody, but if you can, help someone.”

As much as I’d like it not to be true, it is. Amos fell outside the scope of our project with the women. If PD is going to be successful and get our project(s) off the ground, we have to be content with those limitations, however cruel they may seem. I took a look at the projects currently under PD’s portfolio, and lo if there are not lessons to be learned. Below, I have listed some things you’ll need to consider while starting your own development project. Keep in mind, all project needs vary and may indeed require adherence to these, none, or additional considerations; this is what we here at PD have learned so far.

1. Ask
   There’s nothing worse than starting a project that doesn’t need to be started at all. What you think is missing, might not be of material concern to the development of the community. It is important to have a dialog with the intended recipients of your good will. The simple act of asking—”what is it that you need, what is it that will make this community and your lives better?”—can go a long way to building good will and community buy-in for your project.  If you build something that benefits everyone, there’s a chance it will succeed and become self-sustaining. Make sure that those you mean to help understand the way to use what you are providing them. Do they know what a given tool does and what need it addresses. Is it a need that they want solved? Does it create value for them rather than cost them? Is it more valuable for them to keep or more valuable to sell? A simple conversation can help you determine if the project is sustainable. Furthermore, before you build a development project make sure there is not another group on the ground working successfully to do the same thing. Leverage their success for the good of those you are trying to help rather than starting from scratch.
2. Choose a narrow area of focus
   Choose a focused, specific area, or sector where you think you can make the most impact. The smaller, the better. Think of it as giving yourself a chance to get things right. The small size also allows you to work out the operational kinks. The bigger the project; the bigger the budget, constraints and responsibilities. If you are just starting out, don’t bite off more than you can chew, even if your heart is screaming for you to help everybody and their mother.
3. Kind-hearted development noob? Know thyself
   If you don’t speak Mandarin or know anything about Chinese culture and customs, your water project—however well-intended—will be headed for EPIC FAIL. If you are still determined to forge ahead, then spend a little extra time on step one above. If you to feel that you have walked in their shoes, and have no reservations about your project, then you are ready. Knowing thyself also requires knowing your limitations. Take it from our very own Siena Anstis, “DON’T START A DEVELOPMENT PROJECT ALONE IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING!”
4. Have a specific goal you want to accomplish with your project
   Make sure it’s something measurable and can be accomplished in a specific amount of time. For example: dig a well, in XYZ village, within three months. That way, at the end of three months, anyone with vested interest in your project can easily verify if the goal was accomplished or not.
5. Give yourself a realistic timeline
   You are probably going to spend more time fund-raising, than you are building the water project. Consider the logistics of your projects and how that affects its completion. How long will it take you to finish appropriate paperwork, if any? Are you going to need a team of people for this project, and how long will it take for you to recruit them, train them and bring them up to speed? What other priorities do you have in your life? Does the project timeline coincide with your travel schedule?
6. Have a manageable budget
   If your water project costs, say, a million dollars, chances are slim that you’ll be able to raise that amount in three months (unless of course, you already had the funds in your sofa, or you are related to the Gates family). It’s one thing to have step 1-5 planned out, but without a budget, your project most likely isn’t going to flow. Also, make sure it’s a budget that’s easily attainable — either through traditional fund-raising, investments, personal funds, or a combination of the above. If steps 1-5 are planned appropriately, by the time you get to step six, you will find that the budget required for the project is well within reach.
7. Use local capacity
   The use of local capacity means making every effort to utilize all available local resources (i.e., materials, labor, management, etc.). Unless you are a member of that community’s Diaspora, chances are you won’t be spending your whole life on this project, nor are you living in the same community. Consider what will happen when you leave. Who will take ownership of the project? Who is going to fix the well when it breaks down? Better yet, who knows how to fix it when it’s broken. Make sure the parts and supplies can be created or sourced locally; that includes local fix-it people. Don’t pull a Chinese and import your crew of consultants, technicians, and day laborers whose only task is pounding nails. Do make an effort to train willing individuals in areas where they may be lacking. Knowledge transfer is not only huge, but critical if your project is going to be sustainable over a long period of time.
8. Manage Expectations
   There’s nothing worse than promising Evian water, but delivering puddle water. Consider that the people you are helping are already in a desperate situation. If things were great, you wouldn’t be thinking of doing a project for them. All things considered, it’s better to be realistic with what it is that you can deliver. Do this in step one, and at every encounter with your recipients. Do be honest with them not only about the benefits, but the challenges you will face in bringing your project to fruition. If the project fails to come to fruition, at least they know you didn’t just abandon them. They will have information on the trials and tribulation of bringing that particular project, in that community, to fruition. This way, if someone else more capable comes along at a later point, they’ll hear all about it if they start at step one.
9. It’s OK to say no
   It’s inevitable that in the middle of your project you are going to identify cracks in the cement within your target community. And you are going to want to help. Here’s a hint. Don’t. Yes, it’s cruel. The reality being that if you help them too, what about everybody else? If you are already there doing a project, chances are, there are a lot more problems in that community, many beyond your reach or expertise and certainly outside the scope of your project. If it doesn’t conform to steps 1-5 on this list, let someone else do it. You have your hands full already. As in step eight, be honest with yourself and those you are helping. You are there to do a specific project within a specified amount of time, with a specific budget. There’s always going to be a subset of people that are beyond the scope and reach of any particular project. And that’s not your responsibility.
10. Don’t be afraid to bend the above rules
    Okay this sounds hypocritical, I know, but think about it. When has any recipe for success ever been followed to the letter? Every sauce requires adjustments, likewise, every project is a different monster with it’s own complexities and exceptions. If our Women of Kireka project can make an exception by considering the merits of helping Amos, perhaps there’s someone on the fringe that can benefit from you bending your rules a little. Just remember to consult step three carefully before you embark on any rule-bending.

So there you have it. A short guide to getting your very-own International Development project under way. It’s not the ultimate guide, but we hope with your input, it’ll grow up to be the über-guide to ID projects. And if it all seems too daunting and discouraging; take a deep breath, relax, and approach it one step at a time.

Guess what? The next big fad for AID to Africa is Moquito nets…

“Millions of children have died from malaria because they were not protected by an insecticide-treated bed net, or did not receive effective treatment. If we expand malaria control programs, and invest what’s needed in R&D, we can stop this tragedy.” — Bill Gates

1. DeSagana Diop
2. Elizabeth Gore
3. the NBA
4. MLS
5. the United Methodist Church
6. Union of Reformed Judaism
7. the United Nations Foundation
8. VH1
9. Sports Illustrated and Rick Reilly
10. Luol Deng
11. Diego Gutierrez (whew I think I get ‘em all)

AgainstMalaria.com does nothing but raise money for nets

So the WHO just announced some really positive findings: The New York Times article about the report is simply retelling of the basic findings of the WHO report. Not alot of investigative reporting happening in that article. At least I don’t think so. I can find lots of articles ABOUT the report. However I can not find the report itself. According to the New York times however there is significant reduction in the rate of Malaria infection in four African countries

…It looked at programs in four countries that tried to distribute mosquito nets to the families of every child under 5, and medicines containing artemisinin to every public clinic.

In Ethiopia, deaths of children from malaria dropped more than 50 percent. In Rwanda, they dropped more than 60 percent in only two months.

Zambia, Dr. Kochi said, had only about a 33 percent drop in overall deaths because nets ran short and many districts ran out of medicine. But those areas without such problems had 50 to 60 percent reductions, he said.

Ghana was a bit of a mystery, according to the report. It got little money from the Global Fund, Dr. Kochi said, and so bought few nets and had to charge patients for drugs. Malaria deaths nonetheless fell 34 percent, but deaths among children for other reasons dropped 42 percent.

Scientific American published a better article on the technology behind the nets and why they are not well suited to the average African at-risk for Malaria.

Prior to this report I had been hearing some negative information concerning mosquito net programs. I have been pondering these programs for a few months and the thing is… there seems to be a basic problem with the programs as implemented to date. Let’s evaluate for a moment how these programs work.

Nets are provided to women and children for use at night
Nets have insecticide which needs to be reapplied (ok, this is changing)
Nets require bed or dedicated sleeping area

This raises some questions fore me: Are men magically immune to Malaria? Who is paying for the insecticide? What if you don’t have a bed? What if your bedroom doubles as the living room when you are not asleep? Who is making these nets? (Does not do much good to survive malaria only to starve to death) AND most importantly… what if you are not in bed at dusk… when the mosquitos start to bite?

One thing jumps out at me about the report… they are not relying on nets alone to fight the disease. What seems to be most effective is a layered approach. Medicine, insecticide, nets AND community buy-in. One of the early criticisms of the net programs was that the nets were not being used appropriately… anecdotes about mosquito nets as wedding veils of fishing nets were pretty common. So it does not do much good to have an amazing net that is never used… It also does not do any good to depend on nets alone. Mosquitos do not wait until you are safely tucked in to your bed to begin biting. Any solution offered MUST include protection at night and during the day.

Let us not forget that Malaria is not the only issue facing Africa today… and yet most of these nets are not made in Africa. India and China are the most common suppliers. Huh. I guess killing two birds with one stone would be too much to ask. Why not help Africa fight Malaria and supply jobs? Right… any money you raise can only do the one thing. That’s effective.

Just curious, but do all repellents need to be manufactured in a lab in China?
What about Pyrithrium plants? Eucalyptus, citronella, camphor trees, wax myrtles, cedar, verbena, pennyroyal, geranium, The Mosquito Plant is a genetically engineered geranium hybrid, lavender, pine, cinnamon, rosemary, basil, thyme, allspice, garlic, Grey Santiolina and peppermint? All those oils will help fight mosquitos… and any farmer can grow them given the right climate and soil conditions. Maybe I am being too simple-minded. But wouldn’t a simple inexpensive, naturally regenerating product be more effective? Nope that won’t work alone either. They wear off, sweat off, absorb into the skin, and are often irritating to the skin. Sigh.

Here is the thing… There are NO simple solutions. There is NO ONE thing that is going to win the fight. It is important that the people designing and manufacturing the nets understand how they are to be used (might be helpful to actually ask the people who have to use them… or better yet get them to make them). It is important that the people receiving the nets know what they are for and how to use them. It is important to provide 24 hour protection and not just depend on nets for 100% of the solution. It is important to provide inexpensive, easy to take medications, it is important to educate people about Malaria so this it is reported and treated quickly.

Just like everything else. Effective solutions require time and attention. So although the nets are nice, maybe some folks should look a little deeper and acknowledge the complex issue that it really is.

There is rising moment in the blogosphere on the subject of how Africa should be helped. And in increasing numbers, learned scholars, members of the African diaspora and donor organizations are starting to realize that writing the big checks isn’t the way to help Africa. In fact, it’s a step backwards. Donor money directed at African governments and their organizations breeds nothing but dependency. This has been a non-productive cycle that has resulted in Europe’s donor aid to Africa equaling $26 billion annually over the last several years. In equal measure, there are calls to increase this funding every year. But, no one is asking where the $26 billion worth of improvements are. Where are the infrastructural improvements? Where are the modernized hospitals? Where are the updated schools?We are talking decades of increasing aid and still,

“… the majority of the continent resembles something approaching one big emergency military hospital.”

It would seem that the Developed World’s answer to Africa’s call is to throw money at the problem. In a post by my colleague Tracy1314 earlier today, there was a source article from Spiegel.com that caught my attention. In it, was a discussion on Norway’s decision to grant Sudan $4.5 billion in post-civil war reconstruction aid. Even Norway’s minister of development aid, Hilde Frahjord Johnson, actually disagreed with the decision, stating that:

“Much more aid has been agreed on than I think we actually need.”

Dutch aid worker, Lammart Zwaagstra, in the region, commented upon hearing the news that “if we carry on like this, then people will never stand on their own two feet.”

We’ve all heard it time and time again, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Let me take a moment to address that.

Riddle me this. If you give me several million dollars to build/modernize/strengthen whatever mandate you deem appropriate and I know that in the back of my mind, if I stall long enough, there’s going to be pressure on you to not only forgive that debt, but to actually give me more money! Forget that I am not pressured to prove to you what I did with the aid money in the first place or if any of it was actually spent on any mandates you specified. What actually makes you think that I am going to to be motivated as to the appropriate usage of that money?What, pray tell, am I going to learn from misusing that money with no recourse in sight? I am going to learn that I can depend on you to solve my problems for me instead of learning to do it myself. I am going to learn that I have a rich uncle in the West who writes hugemongous guilt checks because they can’t stand the sight of bloated children swatting flies from their noses.

If the world keeps giving fish to Africans, then we will never learn how to provide for ourselves. We are always going to look to the West to solve our problems. But even with this wisdom and decades of this failed aid strategy, donor calls for more money to Africa still persist. Bono’s (Product)Red, while newsworthy, and a commendable effort, is the worst possible publicity for Africa, ever. The campaign aims to “sexy up” Africa’s image. Instead, it re-enforces Africa’s need for more economic assistance and debt relief.As an African I contend that I am sexy enough, thank you very much, now buy my products and stop force-feeding me fish. I want you to put your money where your microphone and editor’s pen are and create a market for my product. Better yet, include me as a measurable and equal member to your economic round table. A member that can contribute to discussions about your bottom line. Don’t spend $100 million to tell the world to buy $100 pairs of jeans made in CHINA, so you can help us fight AIDS. Tell the world to buy my cotton, my textiles, my coffee, or my aloe vera gel, so I can contribute a portion of my earnings towards OUR fight against AIDS.

Campaigns like this are going to train Africa right out of the belief that it is fully capable and responsible for solving it’s own problems. We are just going to sit on the Savannah waiting for the next celebrity to feel a tinge of guilt because of the money he/she rightly made, feels a call to do something, and launches the latest and greatest “save Africa’s blady blah blah” campaign. And on this news, and right on schedule, Africa’s Heads of State roll out the welcome wagon and parade our bloated, shirtless, fly-infested children before the World’s cameras. Then we’ll sit back in our Acacia tree branches squawking for more fish like featherless, and helpless baby birds.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if I had the kind of money and access that some of these cause-hungry celebrities have, I would rightly pick a cause and try to make the world better with my money. But this paradigm has to end. Africa isn’t Hollywood’s problem, or Europe’s problem, or Asia’s problem. Africa is Africa’s problem. If everybody wants Africa to work, then do just that, put us to work. The misguided assumption is that Africa can’t do for itself.

I was reading Bono’s beautifully edited piece of work in Vanity Fair. I ran across an article about China’s increasing economic involvement in Africa. Of particular interest was a picture on page 138 of a railroad under construction deep in Angola’s red soil hills. There were 9 sweaty hard-working men hammering away with chisel and iron. Nothing wrong with that, until you realize there is not a single black face in the picture. Now, I could be simply misinformed and don’t realize that there generations of Chinese-Angolan railroad builders, but I doubt it. This is exactly the problem. What’s so hard about hammering down a railroad spike that your average Angolan can’t be trained to do? What’s so technologically challenging that you have to import an entire Chinese work force to build a railroad in middle of Africa? What about when those same Angolans need roads and office buildings? Which Chinese-Angolan company do we call?

I repeat, Africa should be Africa’s problem. Here’s why. According to NationMaster.com, there are roughly 166 million Africans living in the diaspora. That’s 166 million Africans! Why is this number important? Let’s look at what’s called remittance. According to The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a special agency of the United Nations, an estimated 30 million Africans in the diaspora sent a total of $39 billion to their families, up from $12 billion in 2002. (Yes, that includes the meager $3,200 of Uganda’s $642 million in remittances, that I send to pay for my sister’s Business Administration degree at Makerere University annually).

$39 billion is nearly, if not more than the combined effort of European and American aid monies. Care to guess which monies have a more immediate impact to your average African peasant? This from IFAD,

“These funds are used primarily to meet immediate family needs (consumption) but a significant portion is also available for savings, credit mobilization and other forms of investment. In other words, the world’s largest poverty alleviation programme could also become an effective grass roots economic development programme, particularly in the rural areas that present some of the greatest challenges to financial inclusion.”

Remittances by Africans in the diaspora are on the increase, and I think it is important that we pay attention to this number more than any other number. Africans in the diaspora are becoming important if not the most important economic sector in Africa. On average, Africans in the diaspora are sending back northwards of $1,300. Now multiply that by, say, just half of the 166 million of us in the diaspora and you have yourself an economic powerhouse not tied into government-sponsored flat-footedness. This is an achievable goal.

The focus needs to be less on begging for aid and more on making it easier for Africans abroad to economically engage in their homelands. That’s the first step. The next step is making it easier for entrepreneurs benefiting from those remittances to bring their products to market. This should be the job of African governments – not begging for money, applying for grants, or World Bank loans – they should be out there at the negotiating tables securing factories and plants, markets and customers. This should be the role of governments in the new Africa.