Tracking the flexible, local, social emerging economies of Africa
This is David, he’s an apprentice at the local furniture workshop. But since he was a young boy he has dreamed of building toy cars, trucks and other vehicles. Now, he scrounges around for scrap materials and builds these beautiful scale model toys in his spare time. He is seen here holding a very detailed combine harvester that we brought back with us to the Netherlands and gifted it to the Agriculture section of the Ministry of Economy. They say its a symbol of food security :)
Photo taken by Niti Bhan in Karantina, Kenya on 15th April 2013
At the African Art Museum the inspiring
stories of 50 individuals from the continent are honored in classical
and contemporary works of art
He stands more than seven feet tall, with piercing eyes that seem
almost alive, staring through the souls of entranced visitors into the
future. The statue, Toussant Louverture et la vielle esclave (Toussant Louverture and the Elderly Slave), commands the room, sending out a powerful vibe that is tangible and tactile.
“This is one of the masterpieces of our contemporary collection,” explains curator Kevin Dumouchelle. “I sort of frame it as our own Statue of Liberty here in the middle of the exhibition.”
Dumouchelle built the exhibition, “Heroes: Principles of African Greatness,”
now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, around
this powerful piece. The show features nearly 50 works by classical and
contemporary artists from 15 African countries that weave a tale of
heroic principles and people in Africa’s history.
Visitors are meant to
consider core values ranging from justice and pride to honor and piety.
Each work is paired with an African historical hero—or heroine—whose
lives embody battles for freedom and leadership. Every piece is given a
label, such as honor, independent, or woke, to illustrate the values
these leaders showed in their lives and accomplishments.
The statue of
Toussaint Louverture (topmost photo), by the late Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow, is Liberty.
Growing in pre-1990 South Africa
you’d be hard-pressed as a young African youth to find a role model in
the ICT sector that somehow looked like you. This was important, for me
at the time at least, because as a young person at the time who was
lucky to have access to a second hand XT computer with a lime green
monochrome monitor, I needed to know that people like me had a future
pursuing a career in the sector…in South Africa.
So, you can
imagine my ear-to-ear grin one day in the 1990s after high school when I
walked into a small Software Connection store at Sanlam Center in the
Pretoria CBD looking to buy a Pascal compiler with my pocket money and I
was greeted by two young African males who offered to assist me.
Rwandan coffee continues to draw attention among Chinese consumers.
In October 2018, the Government of Rwanda and Alibaba Group launched the first Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) project in Africa.
The project is part of the
implementation of activities of a bilateral agreement on e-Commerce
cooperation signed between Rwanda and China when President Xi Jinping
visited Rwanda in July 2018.
In September last year, the deal was further extended for three years.
The purpose of the project is to
support the development of the digital economy in Rwanda and make it
easier for Rwandan companies to participate in global trade.
Through the project, Rwandan products like chili and coffee are being sold on different online sites to Chinese consumers.
Coffee lovers in China can access the product through online platforms such as Tmall and Taobao among others.
Africa’s cities are booming. But they will be hit
hardest by climate change. In interviews with 30 urban Africans,
including informal waste pickers and UN climate scientists, DW looks at
how four big and fast-growing cities are adapting: Lagos to scorching
heatwaves, Kampala to rising waste, Cairo to potentially looming drought
and Dar es Salaam to choking traffic.
"I am a victim of this climate crisis and I am not
ashamed to say so,“ said Nakabuye, a student from rural Uganda who now
lives in Kampala, at a climate conference in October. Her voice cracking
and eyes wet with tears, she recounted how her family had sold its land
and livestock after heavy rains and fierce winds washed away crops, and
drought dried up wells. "When the money was over, it was a question of
survival or death.”
The mayors rose to their feet.
Nakabuye, who started campaigning for the environment in
2017, is one of thousands of young Africans who have taken to the
streets demanding governments act — urgently — against global warming.
Refilwe Ledwaba is South Africa’s first black person to fly for
the police but she’s not content with being the first. She wants to
empower thousands more girls to soar.
Ghana’s hugely successful Year of Return saw international
visitors flocking to West Africa in 2019. Along the way it’s also
created what some observers say is a major cultural shakeup that could
redefine (West) Africa for good.
The artist talks about his project spaces in London and Nigeria, and Africa’s untapped artistic potential
About eight years ago, I acquired some land in Lagos. Now we’re in
the process of building a residency in Lekki, a rapidly developing area
in the east of the city. It will house three artists at a time, with
studio and gallery spaces on the ground floor, and residents’ bedrooms
above.
The project also extends to a 30-acre farm in Ijebu, three hours
northeast of Lagos. We’re in the process of landscaping and building a
barn house and studios for artists, using sustainable materials such as
mud, as well as a walled garden where people can learn about indigenous
plants. Lagos is a very busy urban area with a lot of nightlife and
music, so Ijebu will be for artists who need a more quiet space to
produce work on a larger scale (there also will be a sculpture garden on
the farm).
‘A boost for the
local economy …’ Architectural drawings of Yinka Shonibare’s Ecology
Green Farm in Nigeria. Photograph: Courtesy of Yinka Shonibare
Uganda’s Karamoja region is often portrayed as a rural frontier where
life revolves around cattle, poverty and firearms. This photo story, a
collaboration between reporters from Global Press Journal’s Uganda team,
is the first in a series providing a glimpse of what life is really
like in the northeast region of the country.
Photo top: Norah Panger, 19, carries water in
a jerry can on her head in Kokoya village in Kotido district.
Infrastructure is often absent or poorly-maintained in the Karamoja
region, making sustainable access to goods and services a challenge for
many people. Apophia Agiresaasi, GPJ Uganda
Photo middle:
A trader and buyer discuss a charcoal sale at Nabulwa Lokunya Market in Uganda’s Kotido district. Nakisanze Segawa, GPJ Uganda
Will Tanzania soon have the largest wind farm on the African
continent? This could be possible if the project of the Chinese group
Sany Heavy Industries comes to fruition. The group, which specialises in
the manufacture of construction machinery, is diversifying its
activities, also producing wind turbines.
According to our colleagues at Recharge News, Sany Heavy Industries
will carry out its project in several stages, the first of which will
produce 100 MW. However, no details are available on the precise
location where the wind farm will be installed, nor even on the cost of
such a project, still less on its timetable. Its implementation would be
an important boost to Tanzania, which is still struggling to provide
electricity to its entire population. In fact, according to the World
Bank’s 2017 World Electricity Access Report, only 32.8 per cent of
Tanzanians use electricity to light their homes at night.
