The Nordic Africa Institute
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News from the Nordic Africa Institute : No. 2 May/June 2006
No full textCONTENTS: To our readers / Carin Norberg -- COMMENTARIES: Rainbow Kenya: Government of National Unity / Fibian Kavulani Lukalu -- Political parties and the challenge for democracy in Kenya / Mwandawiro Mghanga NORDIC AFRICAN STUDIES: Nordic Masters courses in African and development related studies -- University of Copenhagen, Denmark: Master of Arts in African Studies -- Agder University College, Norway: Master’s Programme in Development Management -- University of Jyväskylä, Finland: Master’s Programme in Development and International Cooperation -- Interview with a student -- Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Master’s Degree in African Studies -- Göteborg University, Sweden: Master’s course in African Studies and International Development Cooperation -- Dalarna University: International Master in African Studies -- NAI’s library services: A resource for distance users -- RESEARCH: The African agricultural and rural crisis / Kjell Havnevik -- Collective organisation among informal workers in African cities / Ilda Lourenço-Lindell -- Call for papers to a conference -- Youth’s Independent Migration from Rural Burkina Faso to Ouagadougou / Dorte Thorsen -- DEBATE: Global Compact – Nordic and African perspectives / Nina Frödin -- VISITS: African Presidents visit to the Institute -- PUBLISHING: Recent publications</p
African families in a global context
No full textThe family is one of the most important institutions of African societies. Where is it going today? How is it affected by global processes, cultural and political as well as economic? How does it compare with family developments in other parts of the world? These are questions, which this report addresses. It deals with – the African family in a comparative global context, focusing on patriarchy, sexuality and marriage, and fertility;– biological and social reproduction in Ghana under conditions of globalization and structural adjustment;– Nigerian marriage relations under the impact of current conditions;– family changes in the North (Britain) viewed from and compared with a family perspective from the South (South Africa).Contents: Preface -- Author presentations - Globalization, Africa, and African Family Pattern / Göran Therborn -- African Families in a Global Context / Göran Therborn -- Demographic Innovation and Nutritional Catastrophe: Change, Lack of Change and Difference in Ghanaian Family Systems / Christine Oppong -- Female (In)dependence and Male Dominance in Contemporary Nigerian Families / Bola Udegbe -- Globalization and Family Patterns: A View from South Africa / Susan C. Ziehl</p
Education in Ethiopia : from crisis to the brink of collapse
No full textThe main focus of the study is the deepening crisis of the Ethiopian education system. This study reconstructs the growth of the crisis of the sector during the last four decades. It then discusses the implications of the crisis in terms of communication breakdown; absence of analytical capacity at system level; the fragmentation of society; loss of political legitimacy and perpetuation of authoritarian power. Although the education sector has greatly expanded its mpact on poverty alleviation has so far been insignificant. The poverty landscape has changed to the worse during the last fifty years. This is largely due to the fact that the Ethiopian education system is based on false premises. At the centre of the crisis is the use of English as medium of instruction. The proficiency in English is so low that its continued use as a medium of instruction can only lead to the collapse of the education system. The study argues that it is only through language (readily understood and practised) that collective life and the world can be interpreted in an integrated manner. The replacement of English by Ethiopian languages all the way from the primary to tertiary levels is one of the factors that could strengthen the survival potential of the Ethiopian political community. The study is relevant for policy makers and students of development studies on the role of education in social change in Africa south of the Sahara. CONTENT -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Context, scope -- I. Education and Development in Ethiopia: The history of dubious correlation -- II. Expansion, crisis and collapse -- III. Constructing a positive role for education in economic and social transformation -- Strengthen the educational process through transparency and inclusion -- Concluding remarksReference
AU, NEPAD and the APRM : democratisation efforts explored
No full textThe African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa\u92s Development (NEPAD) represent an unprecedented collective political effort by African governments at the beginning of the 21st century to address issues of democracy and good governance on a continental scale within an emerging framework of institutions and instruments designed to assist in this effort. The visible commitments to jointly tackle political and socioeconomic challenges in order to overcome the structural legacies that hamper national and social development are reflected in the adoption of a variety of programmatic blueprints and a series of newly created or recently strengthened institutions. The most visible of these since the integration of NEPAD into the AU is the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a process- aimed at addressing some of the challenges on the basis of a voluntary assessment of African government policies. The contributions to this publication trace these recent developments from a policy perspective and explore the scope and limitations of current democratisation efforts. Going beyond the rhetoric surrounding the emergence of the new initiatives, the authors provide an interim and realistic prognosis of the prospects for these new dynamics to achieve the declared goals of sustainable and meaningful change.CONTENT -- AU, NEPAD, and the APRM – Towards Democratic Change? Introductory Remarks. Henning Melber -- The African Union, Democracy and Good Governance. Charles Manga Fombad -- The African Peer Review Mechanism: Challenges and Prospects. Zein Kebonang and Charles Manga Fombad</p
Navigating youth, generating adulthood : social becoming in an African context
No full textThis book focuses on the lives and experiences of young people in Africa. On agents who, willingly or unwillingly, see themselves as belonging to the socio-generational category of youth and the ways in which they seek to shape and unfold their lives in a positive manner. Rather than seeing youth as either a social or cultural entity in itself, or as a predefined life-stage, the book argues for an exploration of how youth position themselves and are positioned within generational categories. In studying young people, social scientists must conceptualise youth as both social being and social becoming; a position in movement. It is from the duality of being positioned and seeking one's own socio-generational position that this book engages in the debate on contemporary African youth.CONTENTS -- YOUTH(E)SCAPES -- Introduction/Cathrine Christiansen, Mats Utas and Henrik E. Vigh -- NAVIGATING YOUTH -- Social Death and Violent Life Chances/Henrik E. Vigh -- Coping with Unpredictability: "Preparing for life" in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon/Trond Waage -- Child Migrants in Transit: Strategies to assert new identities in Rural Burkina Faso/Dorte Thorsen -- GEN(D)ERATING ADULTHOOD -- Popular Music and Luo Youth in Western Kenya: Ambiguities of modernity, morality and gender relations in the era of AIDS/Ruth Prince -- Industrial Labour, Marital Strategy and Changing Livelihood Trajectories among Young Women in Lesotho/Christian Boehm -- Relocation of Children: Fosterage and child death in Biombo, Guinea-Bissau/Jónína Einarsdottir -- INCLUSION/EXCLUSION -- Meaningful Rebels? Young adult perceptions of the Lord's Resistance Movement /Army in Uganda/Sverker Finnström -- The Serendipity of Rebellious Politics: Inclusion and exclusion in a Togolese town/Nadia Lovell -- AFTERWORD/Michael A. Whyt
Re-living the second Chimurenga : memories from the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe
No full textFay Chung grew up in a Chinese family in Rhodesia in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied education and literature, and became a lecturer at the University of Zambia in the early 1970s. In Zambia, she joined the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), and took part in the radicalisation of the nationalist rising, which led to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. The memoirs of Fay Chung give an inside view of the divisions within ZANU during the late 1970s. She witnessed the change of leadership from Sithole to Mugabe, experienced the tensions between politicians and military leaders, as well as the rise and fall of the vashandi movement, which tried to change the direction of ZANU in a more socialist direction. Within ZANU, Fay Chung was prominent in preparing educational reform, and after Independence worked for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education and Culture - eventually as Minister. Her memoirs describe the efforts to extend access to education and to bring ‘education-with-production’ principles into school curricula. Fay Chung also reflects on the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe. While regretting the violence, she is critical of the new democratic opposition, and supports Robert Mugabe's 'Third Chimurenga' as a return to the objectives of land reform and economic justice, which she sees as the 'heartblood' of the liberation struggle. This is an account, which will be certain to provoke many readers, and which will stimulate discussions both within Zimbabwe and abroad. This edition includes an introduction by Preben Kaarsholm, which situates Fay Chung's narrative in the context of ongoing debates about Zimbabwe.Reprinted with corrections, by Weaver Press 2007 (ISBN 9781779220462)Contents: Introduction: Memoirs of a Dutiful Revolutionary / Preben Kaarsholm -- 1. Growing up in colonial Rhodesia -- 2. An undergraduate in the '60s -- 3. Teaching in the turmoil of the townships -- 4. In exile in Britain -- 5. Learning from the Zambia of the 1970s -- 6. Joining the liberation struggle in Zambia -- 7. Josiah Tongogara: commander of ZANLA -- 8. Post-Détente intensification of the war: Nyadzonia and Chimoio -- 9. The formation of the Zimbabwe People's Army (ZIPA), 1976 -- 10. The Geneva conference: old enemies and new friends -- 11. Post-Détente and the defeat of the ZANU left wing -- 12. I end up in a military camp -- 13. Traditional religion in the liberation struggle -- 14. The formation of the ZANU department of education -- 15. The Internal settlement and intensified armed struggle -- 16. The Lancaster house agreement -- 17. Prelude to independence -- 18. The fruits of independence -- 19. A vision of Zimabwe tomorrow -- Appendix 1: The Mgagao Declaration by Zimbabwe Freedom Fighters (October, 1975) -- Appendix 2: Curriculum Vitae: Fay Chung</p
Poverty, income distribution and labour markets in Ethiopia
No full textEthiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of just over US$100. Understanding the causes of the country's widespread poverty is of the utmost importance. Until recently, however, very little household data was available. This study deals with the many aspects of poverty and income distribution in Ethiopia. It analyses the determinants of poverty and how its conditions have changed in both rural and urban areas over time. Rural and urban poverty profiles and the dynamics of poverty are examined, measurements taken of consumption poverty are compared with individual perceptions of poverty, and an analysis is made of the distribution of intra-household expenditure and the dynamics of income distribution. In addition, the functioning of the urban labour market returns to education, and the effects of education on household welfare are investigated. Finally, there is extensive discussion of the wide range of policies that need to be coordinated for poverty reduction in Ethiopia.CONTENT -- Introduction -- Overview of the economy -- Theory and methods of poverty analysis -- Rural and urban poverty profiles -- Changes in welfare and Poverty -- Perceptions of welfare and poverty -- Intra-household distribution of expenditures in rural Ethiopia -- Dynamics of income distribution in urban Ethiopia 1994-1997 -- The Urban labour market during structural adjustment 1990-1997 -- Household welfare and education in urban Ethiopia -- Conclusions and policy implication
News from the Nordic Africa Institute : No. 3, October 2005
No full textContents: To Our Readers / Lennart Wohlgemuth -- Urban youth: Youth in African cities / Amin Y. Kamete -- Organisations working with youth in Africa -- Urban youth and livelihoods in Zimbabwe / Penny Hlupo -- Mohammad Kabir Isa in focus -- Commentaries: Congo-Brazzaville: Multipartyism or illiberal democracy? / Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo -- Research: Post-conflict transition, the state and civil society in Africa / Cyril I. Obi -- Collaborative research on African trade / Olu Ajakaiye -- Images of wilderness landscapes / Shirley Brooks -- The culture(s) of the ANC / Raymond Suttner -- Debate: Waste management in Uganda / Proscovia Svärd -- Conference reports: Conferences and meetings -- Publishing: Recent publications -- Forthcoming</p
Models for life : advancing antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textModels for Life: Advancing antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa is based on two conferences that were held in Copenhagen and Uppsala, in September 2004. The events brought together more than 70 key actors from Denmark, Sweden and Uganda in the field of HIV/AIDS and its treatment: antiretroviral therapy. The conferences were unique in that each panel and the subsequent discussion brought together researchers, donors and representatives from non-governmental organisations, in order to link theory, operations research and practice. The working paper covers a wide range of the issues that were brought up at the conferences, but focuses on the following three main topics: - Access to antiretroviral therapy - Holistic approaches to providing antiretroviral therapy, prevention and support - Antiretroviral therapy and public health services. Each section begins by introducing the core issues to be addressed. The different presentations are then put into perspective by summarising the main questions from the participants and the other panellists. In addition, the editors have further developed some of the key points made by drawing on current literature in the field. The final section concludes with a list of take-home messages for non-governmental organisations.CONTENT -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Access to antiretroviral therapy -- Chapter 2. Providing ARVs: Holistic approaches and scaling-up -- Chapter 3. ARVs and public health services -- Chapter 4. Lessons learned for the NGO community</p
Trade, development, cooperation : what future for Africa?
No full textBi- and multilateral trade relations between external actors and individual African states or regional blocs are becoming ever more decisive. The trade policies of both the USA and the EU are anything but helpful. This is true of the USAs African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Africa and more recently the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated in the Post-Cotonou era of European relations with the South. All these initiatives have a potentially detrimental impact on regional integration. The latter remains however a priority in the developmental policy and strategy documents as formulated both by African agencies as well as the partners in development cooperation in the OECD countries. Hence the question of coherence between trade as aid and other areas of development strategy and cooperation remains to be answered. The three analyses presented in this publication are centred on related issues in the ongoing process of globalisation under the WTO regime, and their likely effect on African countries. Each chapter critically examines recent trends in the discourse on trade reform and development. The contributions to this volume offer discussion and food for thought for scholars, policy makers and NGO activists alike on closely related topical issues in European-African trade relations and development cooperation.CONTENT -- Acknowledgements -- Development Cooperation Revisited: New Dilemmas for a Narrower Agenda. Carlos Lopes -- Trade, Development and Cooperation: Is the EU Helping Africa? Paul Goodison/Colin Stoneman -- Globalisation and (De-)Regionalisation: Southern Africa in Times of Trade Liberalisation. Henning Melber</p