Laura Brunson, a doctoral student in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, will receive up to $42,000 [...]]]>

A University of Oklahoma environmental science graduate student is the recipient of the 2011 EPA Science to Achieve Results Fellowship for research on safe drinking water with a focus on the Rift Valley area of Ethiopia.

Laura Brunson, a doctoral student in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, will receive up to $42,000 per year for a three-year period to support her demonstrated commitment and on-going research on safe drinking water solutions for developing countries.

“This award recognizes Laura’s unique abilities, contributions to date and future potential as an international leader in her field. We are so fortunate to have her as part of the OU WaTER Center team where she is making significant contributions to improve the lives of those living in poverty in Ethiopia,” states David A. Sabatini, professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and director of the OU WaTER Center.

Brunson is working with the OU WaTER Center to develop a technique using aluminum-coated bone char that removes fluoride from drinking water. She recently traveled to Ethiopia to test low-cost, low-energy, sustainable solutions for communities in the Rift Valley.

The level of fluoride in drinking water in the Rift Valley is extremely high and results in severe overexposure to fluoride marked by damage to the bones and darkening of the teeth. Bones charred at a high temperature are effective in the removal of fluoride from water, but sustainable treatment plants and implementation methods are needed in rural Ethiopian communities.

According to Brunson, a trip to the Boundary Water Canoe Area in 1992, along with years of outdoor experiences and a belief in the importance of using ones talents and gifts to contribute positively to society, led her to study environmental science with an emphasis on water quality.

Brunson is an adjunct instructor in the OU College of Business where she teaches social entrepreneurship. She is working with a group of students from the OU Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth to develop and implement a social entrepreneurial model for the bone char technology.

Jagdev Sharma, a researcher at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute has been investigating the advantages of a more productive species of [...]]]>

In the fight to improve global health, alleviate hunger, raise living standards and empower women in the developing world, chickens have an important role to play.

Jagdev Sharma, a researcher at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute has been investigating the advantages of a more productive species of chicken for villagers in rural Uganda. He reports his findings this week at the American Veterinary Medical Association Meeting in Saint Louis, Missouri.

The star of this developing story is a type of chicken known as the Kuroiler. As Sharma notes, it has already shown enormous promise in lifting villagers out of the cycle of economic poverty and nutritional stress in some of the poorest regions:

“The success of the Kuroiler chicken in India, where it was first introduced, makes us hopeful for similar improvements in rural Africa, particularly, in Uganda, where our initial results show the Kuroiler significantly outperforming native chickens.”

Kuroilers are hybrid chickens, well suited to resource-poor village environments. They have been genetically selected to provide both meat and eggs and are able to survive and thrive on agricultural and household waste, requiring no additional feed.

The birds were developed by Keggfarms, a company based in Gurgaon, India and known for its pioneering efforts to improve rural conditions and provide nutritional security through household poultry keeping. Kuroilers were distributed in India to over 1 million households.

Women in rural locales in Africa (as well as India) are often responsible for raising chickens, which supply meat and eggs, as well as providing a vital source of income. Sharma is hoping to duplicate the Indian success story with Kuroilers in Africa, thanks to collaboration between Arizona State University and the Government of Uganda.

Chickens and their eggs are a vital source of nutrition in Uganda, with about 33 million birds produced annually. Of these, the majority—around 28.4 million—are village flocks, with the remaining 4.6 million coming from commercial sources.

Village chicken flocks typically consist of 5-20 chickens per family. As Sharma notes however, such flocks are often insufficient to meet the nutritional and economic needs of village families. Indigenous chickens have a mortality rate of 40-80 percent. Native hens only produce around 40 eggs per year, while roosters provide limited sources of meat, weighing on average 1.5-2.0 kg.

Sharma and his group explored the performance of indigenous chickens, comparing them with the newly introduced Kuroilers. The new chickens are similar to indigenous chickens in terms of their feather colors for camouflage, agility in escaping predators and resistance to disease. Kuroilers differ however in other important features, including their hatchability, adult weight and number of eggs produced.

For the study, 10 Kuroiler and 10 local chickens were distributed to each of 100 families in 5 districts of Uganda. As a control, 100 Kuroiler and 100 native chickens were also held in confinement at a facility in Entebbe. The Kuroiler eggs were sent from India while the local eggs were held in Entebbe for 6 days before setting. Kuroilers and native chickens were assessed for their survival, weight gain, egg production and acceptance by farmers.

The fertility and hatchability of Kuroiler eggs was significantly better than for native eggs, with 80 percent of Kuroilers successfully hatching compared with 47 percent of native eggs. Further, in four districts in Uganda where farmers received Kuroilers, the chickens showed a survival rate of 84%, comparable to that of indigenous birds. Body weight gain for Kuroilers was significantly higher as was their total body weight in adulthood—3kg for male Kuroilers as opposed to 1.5-2.0 for native male chickens.

The most dramatic advantage of the Kuroilers however was their egg laying capacity, which outpaced native species in both village-scavenging settings and for chickens raised in confinement. Kuroilers delivered around 200 eggs annually compared with 40 for native species.

In summation; the study demonstrated that Kuroilers represent a 133 percent increase in meat production, and a 462 percent increase in egg production. These figures also point to a 341 percent increase in income for rural poultry farmers—often village housewives—an important stepping stone toward nutritional and economic security in this poor region.

Sharma is hopeful that government and private contributions to the successful Kuroiler project will significantly extend the reach of this initiative, improving village conditions in many other areas of Africa, where poverty and deprivation remain common.

The Africa competitiveness report focuses on harnessing [...]]]>

The Africa competitiveness report 2011 comes out as the world emerges from the most significant financial and economic crisis in generations. While many advanced economies are still struggling to get their economies back on a solid footing, Africa has, for the most part, weathered the storm remarkably well.

The Africa competitiveness report focuses on harnessing Africa’s underutilized resources: skills, female entrepreneurship, and natural and cultural resources. The report also contains in-depth assessments of the state of competitiveness, the impact of foreign direct investment on the continent, and the trade performance of the region, including the potential of increased productivity growth in agriculture and agribusiness. Its final sections provide detailed competitiveness profiles for several African countries.

Go to Source

Science students will choose to study and work in Africa if they have access to high-quality training, says education adviser Sophie Rivière.

African economies are growing quickly and employers across the continent are seeking qualified personnel to maintain and pursue their development.

But many Africans are still turning to northern or western countries for [...]]]>

Sophie Rivière

Science students will choose to study and work in Africa if they have access to high-quality training, says education adviser Sophie Rivière.

African economies are growing quickly and employers across the continent are seeking qualified personnel to maintain and pursue their development.

But many Africans are still turning to northern or western countries for their education and their careers, making it difficult for African employers to hire qualified local staff. In fact, more than half of African students who study in Europe take up employment there, instead of returning home. 

Stopping the brain drain has become a necessity for Africa, so governments, companies and donors are trying to help young Africans to stay. 

Centres of excellence offer internationally recognized curricula and state-of-the-art research facilities, providing a more affordable alternative in a better suited environment where teaching is in tune with the local context. 

These centres are investing heavily in the quality of education they are providing, gradually reducing the gap between institutions in the North and those in the South. They are also increasing their capacity to admit more students. 

Reversing the brain drain

The International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is one of these centres of excellence. It specialises in water, energy, the environment, civil engineering and mining — fields of expertise tailored to the needs of local and regional economies.

The centre’s student population has grown significantly over the past five years, from 240 in 2005 to 1,850 in 2010. And its graduates are in high demand on the labour market — more than 90% of alumni have found employment within six months of graduation. 

Importantly, 95% of 2iE students end up working in Africa, mostly in the private sector, strengthening local economies and contributing to long-term growth. 

This shows that with sufficient funding and technical assistance, centres of excellence can help to reverse the brain drain. But they face questions over how to grow and respond to society’s needs.

In March this year, an international conference addressed the governanceand financing of centres of excellence with the specific objective of increasing their sustainability and reinforcing their impact. 

The conference was organized by 2iE with the World Bank, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the African Capacity Building Foundation, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the African Development Bank.

Case studies from countries all over the world — including Mexico, Lebanon, Senegal and Tunisia — were presented to participants from higher-education institutions, research centres, donor agencies, decision-making bodies and the private sector.

Participating centres of excellence included Senegal’s Ecole Supérieure Multinationale des Télécommunications (ESMT), Tunisia’s Ecole Supérieure Privée d’Ingénierie et de Technologies (ESPRIT), and Mexico’s Monterrey Institute of Technology.

The aim was to draw out key common characteristics of these centres, and establish an action plan to build their capacity. 

A flexible approach

The discussions in Ouagadougou led to the adoption of criteria to define excellence in higher education and research: demand-driven training, striving for international standards and recognition, a strategic vision and merit-based access for students.

Financial and statutory autonomy, flexibility in management and strategic planning were among the concrete recommendations that emerged from the discussions to ensure good governance. 

Centres of excellence should have the flexibility to seize opportunities and respond to emerging needs by developing new training programmes, adapting salary and recruitment policies, and reshaping strategies according to political, economic and social changes. 

Public–private partnerships were also viewed as a major asset. They can help to ensure that academics and scientists are involved in a centre’s decision-making, business development and innovation. 

And there are tangible benefits to involving the private sector. For example, the presence of mining companies in Burkina Faso has recently boosted the demand for environmental scientists specialising in mining. In response, 2iE developed relevant courses to meet these emerging needs, implementing the Specialized Master’s Degree in Sustainable Management of Mines. 

Scholarships and loans

Participants at the conference also discussed how to improve financial sustainability. A follow-up meeting on how the private sector — notably the banking sector — can contribute to this aspect will be organised before the end of the year. 

Risk sharing and guarantee schemes to finance student loans, boarding facilities and infrastructure investments are possible innovative mechanisms that should be considered.

At 2iE, new financing mechanisms for prospective students have already been set up. In addition to the scholarship programmes currently offered to 40% of the student population, the centre has established a partnership with the Bank of Africa and the AFD enabling master’s students to obtain a loan based on their future employability.

Set up in 2009, this programme is accessible to students from the 12 countries where the Bank of Africa is located, and negotiations to expand it are underway.

Centres of excellence are raising academic standards in Africa on a large scale, enabling students to remain in Africa and convincing scholars worldwide to turn to Africa to teach or to conduct research. 

By adopting the conclusions of the conference, centres and partners in the South have set out a course of action that they must now follow to continue promoting the creation and dissemination of knowledge — one of the most powerful tools in combating poverty.

Sophie Rivière is advisor to the managing director of the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Go to Source

Similar Products: Powered by

The African Brain Drain. Managing the Drain Working with the Diaspora :: Amazon The AAU held the COREVIP in Tripoli, Libya, under the theme: African Brain Drain Managing the Drain: Working with the Diaspora. The conferen

Developing countries more than doubled their output of scientific publications between 2002 and 2008, but their share of patent applications remained extremely low, according to the latest UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) science report.

The developing [...]]]>

Developing countries have greatly increased their publication output but they produce few patents, says a UNESCO report.

Developing countries more than doubled their output of scientific publications between 2002 and 2008, but their share of patent applications remained extremely low, according to the latest UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) science report.

The developing world’s share of science publications rose from a fifth to nearly a third during this time, according to the ‘UNESCO Science Report 2010: Current Status of Science around the World’.

The report, published today (10 November), assessed the number of publications recorded in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index between 2002 and 2008, during which the total number of global science publications increased by around 35 per cent.

Much of the increase in the developing world is because of the growth of Brazil, China and India. The report found that least developed countries (LDCs), a subset of developing countries, have also increased their publications output — by 80 per cent. But this is from the starting point of 2,000 papers a year, compared with the total developing country output of 165,000 papers, and thus represents only 0.4 per cent of the world’s total output.

Latin America’s share of output rose from just under four to almost five per cent and the report noted that many countries in the region have begun innovation-friendly policies.

In the 22 Pacific island countries and territories, publications increased by 42 per cent between 1998 and 2008. Although S&T is still low on the priority list of policymakers there, said the report, there is a growing regional presence and collaboration on science and technology (S&T).

“This is largely due to common concerns confronting many of the smaller, low-lying Pacific nations such as sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion and the growing frequency of destructive storms.”

Although the number of publications from Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 84 per cent, they still contribute just 0.6 of the world’s production. South Africa and Nigeria are the most prolific countries in the region.

Iran, meanwhile, saw a fivefold increase in output — attributed to the government using oil revenues to expand higher education, in particular graduate studies.

Much of the report deals with spending on science and numbers of researchers, finding that both have increased in developing countries, asSciDev.Net has previously reported.

Another index of scientific output is patents, and the report considered those filed to the US, European and Japanese patent offices between 2002 and 2006.

Developing countries contribute less than five per cent of the global share of patents, with only one patent filed from LDCs in 2006.

“Most of Africa, Asia and Latin America play no role at all [in global share of patents],” says the report, highlighting a lack of interaction between researchers and industry, and between public and private sectors, which is also evident in Arab states.

Anastassios Pouris, director of the Institute for Technological Innovation at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, told SciDev.Net that the report is likely to have overestimated the increase in developing countries’ share of publications because the citation index expanded in 2008 by 700 journals — mostly from developing countries.

Pouris attributed the low number of patents applied for by African researchers to the high costs of patent applications in the West, and also to researchers’ fears that their technologies would be stolen, with prohibitive costs of court redress.

“I don’t believe that any university in the African continent can afford to protect its intellectual property.”

Mohamed Hassan, director of TWAS, The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, said: “The increase in the productivity of peer-reviewed research papers coming from developing countries is very clear but this improvement is confined to a very few countries, such as Brazil, China and Mexico”.

A group of least-developed and low-income countries is lagging dangerously behind the rest of the world, he said.

Despite accounting for a quarter of the world’s population, they suffer from bad education systems and a lack of both equipment and skills.

“None of the universities from these countries are among the world’s top 500 universities,” Hassan said. “It is astonishing that you have these 80 countries contributing so little knowledge.”

“This disparity in the developing world should be highlighted [better] in such reports.”

Link to full ‘UNESCO Science Report 2010: Current Status of Science around the World’ [20.6MB]

Go to Source

In 2005, Benin decided to adopt a CDD approach through the National Community-Driven [...]]]>

Community Driven Development (CDD) is a decentralized approach to development that focuses on priorities identified by beneficiary communities themselves, assigns ownership to them, and provides them with the resources needed to take an active role in transforming their lives for the better.

In 2005, Benin decided to adopt a CDD approach through the National Community-Driven Development Support Project, known by its French acronym PNDCC (Projet National de Développement Conduit par les Communautés). The project’s objective was to improve access for the poorest communities to basic social and financial services. The World Bank funded the project to the tune of US$50 million (approximately CFAF 34 billion) through the International Development Association, the branch of the World Bank Group that provides assistance to low income countries. Of that money, US$37.7 million was in the form of a loan, and US$12.3 million in the form of a grant.

The project’s main components included strengthening the capacities of sectoral ministries, communes, and communities in order to implement CDD, expanding access by the poor to basic infrastructure and social services, and improving access by the poor to financial services targeting revenue-generating activities.

Tangible Results

All told, 1,196 poor communities of the 1,515 targeted received PNDCC funding to implement 1,231 community subprojects. In addition, 63 of the 74 communes targeted received funding to implement 89 communal subprojects described in their Communal Development Plan (CDP); and 295 additional subprojects were approved for start in the months ahead. The PNDCC led to the building and rehabilitation of much of the basic community and communal social infrastructure throughout the country.

The project provided funding for the construction of 2,568 classrooms and 120 health care centers (dispensaries, maternity facilities, and village health centers). In addition, 206 modular latrines (with two to four stalls) as well as a large number of market-based infrastructures (modular shops, storage facilities, and market stands) were also built. Feeder roads and other basic infrastructure such as wells and boreholes were also rehabilitated or built.

Above all, the PNDCC managed to develop the capacities of the main actors on the ground. It is important to note that community subprojects are identified, prepared, and implemented by the communities themselves, through Village Development Associations (ADVs), with the assistance of leaders from the relevant communities and communes. All ADVs receive basic management training in many areas (such as participatory poverty assessment, participatory needs assessment, community procurement, and financial management) before starting work.

The project organized basic management training for more than 1,515 of the poor communities targeted. This training allowed the beneficiary communities to organize themselves to prepare subprojects eligible for PNDCC funding, and to execute them by concluding contracts with enterprises. They also made sure to supervise the works themselves. The 74 Communes involved, along with each of the 12 prefectures in the country, also undertook capacity-building activities that incorporated the community-driven development approach into their programs.

The objective of providing the poorest with access to financial resources so that they can develop income-generating activities was also achieved. Through a partnership concluded between the Project and six microfinance institutions, 3,600 groups (90 percent of members are women) received loans and technical advice to launch their economic activities.

“In addition to the infrastructure work that we did in the context of the PNDCC, the training we received was very important and valuable,” noted a village development association member. “The skills acquired, which allowed us to prepare and execute our own microprojects, position us to be true drivers of our own development.”

Empowering Women

The CDD experience in Benin has been a success on several fronts. In particular, it enabled capacity building in ministries, communes, and grassroots development organizations tasked with implementing operations; expanded access by the poor to social services, basic infrastructure, and financial services to carry out revenue-generating activities; and facilitated the government’s agreement to transfer financial resources to communes and communities.

There is broad consensus that no meaningful development can be achieved without gender inclusion and women empowerment. Consequently, steps were taken to ensure adequate representation by women in the resource management area of projects. Their participation was therefore expanded and they were assigned greater responsibility for microproject implementation.

This enhanced the autonomy of women in the beneficiary communes and communities and facilitated their participation in the decision-making process. Women were also the main beneficiaries of the partnership between the PNDCC and microfinance institutions. They received loans and technical advice to start revenue-generating activities which they managed efficiently, thus reaping the benefits of these projects. They were therefore able to quickly repay loans and obtain more credit.

The women we met with during a visit to a cooperative for grassroots development in Bohicon (a microfinance institution) told us that the activities they carried out with loans obtained allowed them to make a much greater contribution to the needs of their families, in particular by investing in children’s health and education.

Future Prospects

While it is true that a lot of activities were carried out in the context of the PNDCC, much remains to be done. “The PNDCC has made a great contribution to building the capacity of communities to identify their own development needs, prepare subprojects, seek financing, supervise the execution of works, as well as conduct audits, preliminary checks, evaluation, and reprogramming,” said Frank Tigri, the project’s executive secretary. “In light of the ever-growing demand from communes and communities, we have stepped up the implementation pace of activities, so as to pave the way for the ongoing technical and financial assistance needed to expand and strengthen access by the poor to basic social services and infrastructure,” he added.

On June 29, 2010, the Board of the World Bank approved an additional financing of US$12 million (approximately CFAF 6 billion) in the form of a grant for the PNDCC. This new funding will help secure the gains made so far and introduce a new component aimed at providing a technical assistance that will help improve the social protection system in Benin.

Postcards of Hope and Success from Africa

Worldwatch Researcher Visits 150th Project, After 21 Sub-Saharan African Countries

Lomé, Togo-Highlighting Africa-led innovations that offer sustainable ways to alleviate hunger and poverty, Worldwatch Institute senior researcher Danielle Nierenberg visited her 150th site today as part of a one-year tour through Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Niger, Madagascar, and 17 other countries [...]]]>

Postcards of Hope and Success from Africa

Worldwatch Researcher Visits 150th Project, After 21 Sub-Saharan African Countries

Lomé, Togo-Highlighting Africa-led innovations that offer sustainable ways to alleviate hunger and poverty, Worldwatch Institute senior researcher Danielle Nierenberg visited her 150th site today as part of a one-year tour through Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Niger, Madagascar, and 17 other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The research-driven itinerary, part of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet project, will culminate in the January 2010 release of the Institute’s flagship publication, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet.

About 120 kilometers outside Lomé, Togo, Nierenberg reached this exciting benchmark while spending the day visiting conservation projects with a local organization called “Les Compagnons Ruraux,” which is working with communities living in or near the rain forest to help them practice sustainable agriculture and prevent deforestation. Other projects that Danielle has visited to date include:

• School garden and nutrition projects in Senegal and Uganda that produce healthy food for children while instilling pride in local cultivation practices and a taste for indigenous vegetables;
• Pastoralists in Kenya who are working to keep both their livestock biodiversity and their cultural traditions alive;
• Women-run co-operatives and value-added projects in Ghana that improve livelihoods, empower women, and help them face challenges together;
• Farmer-to-farmer trainings in Mozambique that help farmers share their experiences while valuing and investing in their own local knowledge;
• Zulu sheep and indigenous breed protection projects in South Africa that preserve the pest-tolerant and drought-resistant animals that are being replaced by exotic and foreign species.

“The news media in the West tends to be very negative in its coverage of Africa,” says Nierenberg. “We often hear stories about conflict, HIV/AIDS, famine, and disease. But there are stories of hope, too. Everywhere I travel on the continent, I see examples of Africa-led innovations that are succeeding in reducing hunger and poverty where past approaches have not worked. Nourishing the Planet seeks to shed light on these solutions.”

Nierenberg is reporting daily from farms, co-ops, and offices in Africa, posting updates on the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet blog. In addition, she has co-authored dozens of op-eds throughout her travels-often co-written with African innovators-in media outlets that include USA Today, The Seattle Times, the Ghana Daily Graphic, and South Africa’s Cape Town Argus.

“Nourishing the Planet represents a new research paradigm for Worldwatch,” says Worldwatch Institute President Christopher Flavin. ”The on-the-ground examples featured in State of the World 2011 will demonstrate the success of sustainability innovations in agriculture to policymakers, consumers, and the donor community worldwide.”

The State of the World 2011 report will focus on agriculture innovations and will be accompanied by derivative materials including briefing documents, summaries, an innovations database, videos, and podcasts. The project’s findings will be disseminated to a wide range of influential agricultural stakeholders, including government ministries, agricultural policymakers, farmer and community networks, and the increasingly influential non-governmental environmental and development communities.

“One of the main goals of the project is to create a roadmap for the funding and donor communities to ensure that the increasing amount of agricultural funding in Africa goes to projects that are effective and long-lasting even without outside support,” says Brian Halweil, co-project director of Nourishing the Planet. “In addition, a local innovation working in rural Cameroon might be something that could be scaled up or replicated in Zambia. We hope to connect projects in different regions and help to improve knowledge sharing.”

Go to Source